The Fallen Angel
by K. C. Trexler
Summary: Events begin to occur around Angel suggesting that she is starting to go insane. But Sonic doesn't believe it, insistent that someone is messing with her head. Meanwhile, Tails revives the ancient Gizoid combat robot, who won't reveal his abilities till a new master is found.
1. Chapter 1

All official characters copyrighted by SEGA and Archie Comics. All non-official characters are copyrights of myself or NetRaptor, her character used with permission.

 **The Fallen Angel**

 **Chapter 1**

A knock at Sonic's door caused the cerulean hedgehog to look up from the book he had been reading. While he usually wasn't one for reading, this particular book had caught his interest. It was of a legend on Earth that was almost forgotten at this point. A book of the Knights of the Round Table and their humble ruler King Arthur.

Putting the book on his coffee table, he got up from his chair and walked towards the door. He had a feeling he knew who was there, as this was the day they were supposed to have arrived. Opening the door, he saw who he feared it would be standing at his door.

"Hey Uncle Chuck," said Sonic softly.

"Hey yourself Sonny boy," said Chuck. The robian was accompanied by Sally. She had asked him to come and hopefully help explain what Sonic had been so set on keeping from her.

"Come in you guys. Let's get this over with," said Sonic as he waved the duo inside. The two walked in, closing the door behind them.

"Sally tells me you've got a problem that's been really eating at you. Something so overbearing you were afraid to tell her," said Chuck as he and Sally sat on the couch opposite of Sonic as he sat back in his chair.

"Uncle Chuck...Did you ever find my parents?" asked Sonic. Chuck got a look of surprise on his face at the question.

"Sonic...You haven't asked me about your parents once. What suddenly brought this up?" asked Chuck.

"Just humor me for now...please. And be honest. I have to know the truth," said Sonic.

"Well...no. I never found them," said Chuck, looking at the floor.

"You don't remember them Sonic?" asked Sally.

"I don't Sal. As a matter of fact, that's what's been bugging me so much lately. I don't remember anything before the day I met Uncle Chuck," said Sonic.

"What do you remember Sonic?" asked Chuck.

"The first memory I have is waking up in the Great Forest. Then I saw Mobotropolis in the distance, so I headed there. I remember I was hungry so I stole an apple from a vendor who never even saw me cause I moved so fast," said Sonic

"Didn't miss my eyes though you little scamp," said Chuck with a grin.

"Yeah...You always were good at spotting me when I moved," said Sonic with his own grin. "Anyways, Uncle Chuck tracked me down and asked me where my parents were. When I said I didn't know and subsequently told him I didn't know who my parents even were, he made a decision that changed both our lives."

"I offered to let him live with me, so long as he kept out of trouble. I could've handed him over to the orphanage. But knowing he could move as fast as he could, I knew he'd be a handful," said Chuck.

"I suppose I didn't disappoint you in that regard, did I?" asked Sonic.

"Oh you were a handful to be sure. But you were also a great kid with a heart of gold. And after everything that's happened over the years I've known you, I've seen you grow into a hero I would have never guessed you would be. I've been nothing but extremely proud of you," said Chuck.

"That means a lot Uncle Chuck," said Sonic.

"So this entire time you've had no relation to Charles?" asked Sally.

"That's right. Sorry we lied to you Sal. As far as I was concerned at the time, Chuck was my uncle and I was his nephew. I was too young to question it that much," said Sonic.

"But its been eating at you lately, hasn't it?" asked Sally.

"Extremely. I've dwelled on my lost memories a little more each day for the last several months. I'm not sure what started me thinking about it so much though. Maybe I just reached a point where I just began to question everything I knew about my past. I'm not really sure," said Sonic.

"Sonny...There's nothing wrong with what you're going thru. In all honesty, I'm a little surprised it took this long before you began to wonder about your past," said Chuck.

"But how did I get to the Great Forest? Where was I before that? And why can't I remember anything prior to that?" asked Sonic.

"I wish I could provide you with answers Sonic. I really do," said Chuck as he looked at the floor.

"Maybe you not knowing is a blessing, not a curse," suggested Sally.

"How so?" asked Sonic.

"Well, what if your past contained something really dark like Angel's does? Something so dark that it might have led you astray from the path you took as you grew up," said Sally.

"That's not very reassuring Sal," said Sonic.

"She may be right Sonic," said Chuck as he stroked his chin. "Even I don't know where you came from or what you were doing prior to the two of us meeting that fateful day all those years ago. Perhaps it is for the best that you don't have any memory of your previous life."

"But it's the not knowing that's begun to worry me," said Sonic.

"What do you mean?" asked Sally.

"What if my past contained something really important I was supposed to remember but forgot?" asked Sonic.

"You can't let that fear tear you up like this Sonic," said Sally.

"She's right Sonny. Dwelling on what might be instead of what is won't end well," said Chuck. Sonic gave a sigh, then looked away from them.

"Perhaps..." said Sonic.

"Well...There is one last thing I'd like to add as food for thought," said Chuck.

"What's that Charles?" asked Sally.

"The power rings that I invented weren't supposed to react to anyone touching them. They were supposed to be a fairly powerful source of stabilized chaos energy that could be used as back up power supplies for Mobotropolis," said Chuck. Sally's eyes suddenly went wide.

"But they react when Sonic holds them. He can absorb their power," said Sally.

"Exactly. For some reason, Sonic is able to tap into their power on a cellular level. What that means I never could figure out, but it makes me wonder if Sonic is something other than a pure blooded mobian," said Chuck.

"But if I'm not a mobian, then what am I?" asked Sonic, a little bit of panic in his voice.

"Calm down Sonny. I'm not saying you aren't a mobian. Perhaps its just your unique DNA makeup that allows you to tap into their power. Or a random one in a trillion chance thing because the rings are a source of chaos energy. I've literally had dozens of theories about why they react to you, but I can't prove any of them," said Chuck.

"I kinda wish you'd left that off the table instead of telling me, Unce. Now my mind's racing with a thousand more questions," said Sonic. A sudden knock at the door caused all three of them to look over at it.

"Expecting someone?" asked Chuck as Sonic got up and walked towards the door.

"No. I don't know who could be there," said Sonic as he reached the door. Opening it, he found Angel standing on his doorstep. The pink furred echidna spotted the two guests sitting on the couch.

"I'm sorry. Am I interrupting?" asked Angel.

"Nah. We're pretty much done I think," said Sonic as he motioned her inside. A thought crossed his mind as he looked back at Chuck. "Hey Uncle Chuck. I'd like you to come meet Angel Starfire." The robian got off the couch and walked up to the echidna.

"Sonic's told me a lot about you," said Chuck as he took her hand and gave it a shake.

"So you're his Uncle Chuck that he told me about around the time we first met. It's a pleasure to finally meet you," said Angel as she returned the shake.

"The pleasure is all mine," said Chuck.

"So what brings you by Angel?" asked Sonic.

"What brings me by? You said you wanted to talk to me earlier today," said Angel. Sonic smacked himself on the forehead.

"That's right, I completely forgot," said Sonic.

"If we need to leave we can," said Sally.

"If you don't mind," said Sonic. Sally got up and walked over next to Chuck at the doorway.

"Charles will be here till later tonight before he heads back to our other outpost to continue his research on the Roboticizer. Don't hesitate to come to us if you still need to talk," said Sally.

"I will Sal," said Sonic. Sally and Chuck then walked outside as Angel walked inside, closing the door behind her. She then took a seat on the couch as Sonic sat next to her.

"So what did you want to talk about?" asked Angel.

"I'm worried about you Angel," said Sonic. Angel looked a little stunned by the statement.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I've noticed you've begun to push us away again. You may not see it, but I've noticed it when I've been around you. You don't talk to anyone unless they speak to you first. And even then it's quick and to the point," said Sonic. Angel sighed as she looked at the ground.

"I honestly thought Comet would be the first to notice, not you," said Angel.

"Maybe she has and just isn't voicing it," said Sonic.

"I hope that's not the case. She's already suffered enough sadness because of me," said Angel.

"Which is why I want to know the truth. Can you promise to tell me the truth?" asked Sonic.

"You know I can't make a promise to something that vague," said Angel.

"Sorry, let me rephrase it. Can you promise to truthfully tell me what's going on with you? You've been distant ever since we got back a little more each day. It's only been a little over a week since what happened on the ARK, but you've withdrawn a lot since then," said Sonic.

"I'm sorry, but right now I'd rather not tell you. I don't mean to worry you or anyone else. I'm just going thru a rough time is all and I'm trying to sort it all out," said Angel.

"Well, you need to quit shutting us out. We can't help you if you continue to do so," said Sonic. Angel gave a nod.

"I'll try and open up a little more. You're right. I can't fall back down that pit of darkness again. I barely made it out of that pit the first time," said Angel.

"Good. Now to make sure you're going to do just that, you're going to follow me to the community hut and have dinner with the rest of us instead of in your hut like the last several nights," said Sonic with a smile.

* * *

Run away…That's the only thought that went through Angel's mind as she looked back over her shoulder, wondering when and where the strike would come from. Maybe if she ran fast enough, the thing that was chasing after her would grow tired and quit. But she quickly gave up that hope.

The thing that was now stalking her through the thick jungle would never tire or give up. A loud screeching sound from behind her only made her hasten her escape, running through the jungle underbrush as fast as her legs would carry her.

"You can't escape from me," hissed a deep, fluid male voice. Angel tried to determine where the voice had come from, but it seemed as if it emanated from all around her. Pushing her fear as far back in her mind as she could, she pressed onward.

As she finally entered a large clearing, she came to an abrupt halt. Dozens of huts now stood before her, each one ablaze. Yet the fire didn't seem to consume the huts at all, but rather continue to burn in almost a pattern of sorts.

Suddenly, the air was pierced by a cry that she herself would never forget. In the clearing of the huts, she watched as her eight year old self ran screaming at the top of her lungs as she swung her sword at a shadowy Metal Sonic.

"Don't do it! Get out of there!" yelled Angel to her younger self. But the child paid no attention to her older self as she followed through with the blow, the sword being caught in mid-swing by the mecha bot.

But unlike the metallic clang the older Angel had expected to hear, the sickening sound of the weapon slicing into flesh could be heard. Then the blow she expected the mecha bot to do came, knocking the younger echidna to the ground. Metal Sonic then dropped the sword and started to approach the older Angel.

But as he came closer, his features started to warp. Slowly his body grew much larger, his chest cavity filling out with orange colored flesh. His head started morph into more of a reptilian like quality, his red eyes becoming almost cat-like in appearance. Silver metal began to flow down from the tip of his nose to the tip of the tail that was now growing out of the monster's back. His feet were also changing from looking sneaker-like to more of a clawed, lizard-like quality.

"It doesn't matter what you do or what you say," hissed the voice again from all around her. The fear that Angel had kept to the back of her mind rushed to the forefront once more. The echidna girl began backing away from the monstrosity that was now calmly walking towards her.

"You can't run away from your destiny," said the voice.

"I choose my own destiny!" shouted Angel as she continued to back away. So intent was she on backing up that she didn't realize her back was to a hut till she ran into it. As she stood there frozen in fear, the monster continued to walk slowly towards her, its warped body becoming more and more cohesive.

"But I'm afraid you already chose your destiny," said the voice softly, almost eerily. Angel shook her head slowly as she stared wide eyed at the beast before her.

"No…That's not true! I never chose a destiny for myself!" she screamed at the shadowy figure that now towered over her small form.

"Ah, but you did all those years ago. You made the choice yourself when you were only nine years old," replied the voice. Angel then noticed that she seemed shorter than before. A quick once over revealed to her that she had regressed in age back to herself as a nine year old.

"W-what are you t-talking about? What ch-choice!?" she shakily yelled at the figure as she ducked down into a fetal position. By now, the beast was now standing right over her. Its red eyes cast their glow down at her as the raging fires continued to burn all around her, glinting off the silver armor that the beast wore.

"The choice…to be forever under my control!" cried the voice as its head lunged forward, its gaping maw ready to devour the small girl.

* * *

Angel shot upright in her bed, letting out a loud gasp as sweat beaded off her brow and soaked her yellow night gown. A quick look around the still somewhat unfamiliar bedroom she was now in spooked her at first. Then she remembered where she was at as she closed her eyes and gave a sigh.

"That dream again..." said Angel to herself as she shuddered slightly. It had been one she had been having nearly every night since she had defeated the mecha bot Leviathan in the past. She had hoped the nightmare would fade with time, but it was still as vivid as the first time she had seen it. And it still sent the same chill down her spine when she thought about it.

Glancing over at the alarm clock on the nightstand, she saw that it was almost four in the morning. Realizing that she was pretty much fully awake now, she decided to give up on getting the additional two hours of sleep before the alarm was set to go off.

"Guess I'll get some orange juice and read for a bit," she mused as she got out of bed and put on a pair of pink house slippers that matched her fur nicely. As she walked into the living room, her nose caught the subtle scent of wild flowers in the air as she turned on the light. Looking over at the air freshener that Cody had been kind enough to give her resting on the coffee table, she was thankful that she had decided to stay in Knothole for the time being.

Shadow's death still hung heavily over her heart. While everyone had voiced to her that she wasn't to blame for it, she still couldn't convince herself that she didn't lead him down that path somehow. She had asked Comet to stay with Sally for the moment, wanting to be alone with her thoughts when she wasn't doing the small amount of socializing she had been doing. She didn't want her best friend to see her still suffering this badly from both her nightmares and her thoughts.

But still, being near her friends was helping her keep herself calm for now. She had a feeling that if she wasn't interacting with them at all that she'd dwell on her problems non-stop to the point it would start to drive her crazy.

Having arrived at a cupboard she opened it up and set a glass from in it on the counter. She then walked over to the fridge and got the carton of juice. But as she turned around, she noticed something odd.

"Where's the glass?" she asked aloud. Indeed, the glass she had set on the counter was now missing. She walked back over to the cupboard to get another glass. But as she got another one and turned back around, the original glass was now back in the same spot it had been in.

This was something else that was starting to get to her. A few days after she had arrived in Knothole, things had begun disappearing and reappearing randomly in the hut she was temporarily staying in. She had dismissed it at first. But after several repeated occurrences of similar stuff happening, she was beginning to wonder if all the stress she was going through was beginning to get to her.

Putting the second glass back up, she poured the glass two thirds of the way full of juice and headed for the living room. Finding the book that Lily had loaned her waiting for her on the coffee table, she picked it up and sat on the sofa. The book was one from Earth. A story of love between a werewolf and the human girl that was supposed to be hunting him. While it seemed a little corny to her, it was still a good read.

She sat in silence for nearly half an hour till she suddenly felt like someone was watching her. Looking up from her book, she looked around the room. But nothing greeted her gaze. Shrugging it off, she returned her eyes to her book. Suddenly, she heard a voice call out to her.

"You can't escape your destiny," said the voice in almost a whisper. She stiffened as she heard it. It was a voice all too familiar to her. It haunted her nightmares even to this day.

"Where are you Leviathan?" she asked as she put her book down, stood up, and looked around the room. But as the seconds ticked by and nothing caught her as being out of place, she relaxed and sighed.

"Great...Now I'm starting to hear him even when I'm awake," said Angel as she sat back down and resumed reading. Nothing else eventful happened for the next few hours as she tried to focus on reading her book. She had managed to dismiss the voice she had thought she had heard from her mind during that time. As the sun's rays began to filter into the room from the nearby window, she sighed.

"Suppose I'd better do what Sonic told me to do and try and socialize," said Angel as she sat the book on the table and drank the last of her juice. Walking into the bedroom, she began to get dressed to go into the commons. But as she finished putting the last of her clothes on, she felt like eyes were on her again.

"I know you're there," she said, looking around the room. But once again, nothing was out of place. A sudden knock at her door caused her to jump. Swearing to herself at being startled like that, she opened the door to find Cody standing there.

"You look a little spooked. Everything alright?" asked the robian, noticing the echidna looked a little scared.

"Yeah...I'm fine. You just scared me knocking at the door, that's all," said Angel. Truthfully she actually was a little spooked by what had happened so far this morning. Was her nightmare really starting to affect her in the real world? She hoped it wasn't. The dream alone was bad enough.

"Well, Sonic suggested I come and get you to have breakfast with us all," said Cody. Angel smiled in response to the invitation.

"I'd love to. I need to get out of here for a little while," said Angel as she followed Cody outside, closing the door behind her. As the pair walked down the path leading into the commons, Lily and Drake were there to greet them at the end of the path.

"Oh good. He got you to come and eat with us after all," said the magenta furred hedgehog with a smile.

"Come on you two slow pokes!" cried Drake as he flew next to Lily. "I finally talked Comet into an eating contest and I want to get started right away!"

"How'd you do that?" asked Angel, a little stunned that her chao would do something like that.

"Probably because he's asked her every day for the last month," said Cody with a sigh. "I swear he acts like a child most of the time."

"He pretty much still is a child Cody," said Angel. She then looked over at the orange dragon chao as she suddenly realized she didn't even know his age. "How old are you anyways?"

"I'll be a year in about two months," said Drake.

"Yep. Still a kid," said Angel with a chuckle. "Granted Comet was a much better behaved kid when she was his age, but she was still a kid."

"Hey! I can behave just fine," said Drake with a frown as Cody and Angel reached them.

"When you want to, which is rarely," said Cody with an annoyed look on his face.

"Oh don't be like that Cody. He's your chao after all," said Lily. Cody looked like he wanted to say something else, but held back and just smiled.

"Yep. He's mine alright. The bundle of joy that he is," said Cody. He reached out and patted Drake on the head, who just smiled and purred in response.

"Yep. Definitely still a kid. Comet made the same noise till she was almost two when I petted her head," said Angel.

"As nice as that felt, can we please get going?" asked Drake as he started flying off in the direction of the community hut. But as they started in the direction of the community hut, Angel felt something out of place and stopped. This caused everyone else to stop as well.

"What's wrong?" asked Lily.

"I feel like someone's watching us," said Angel. Glancing around, she noticed nothing on the ground. But as her eyes turned to the trees, she spotted something that caused an icy fist to wrap around her heart. Staring directly at her from within a large bushel of leaves covering a large branch of one of the trees was a pair of glowing, red, cat-like eyes. A pair of eyes that could only belong to one person.

"What do you see?" asked Cody, noticing that Angel's focus had stopped on a particular spot in the tree line.

"It's him...He's looking right at me," said Angel shakily.

"Who's looking at you?" asked Lily, also looking in the spot that Angel's gaze had focused on as Drake followed suit.

"You don't see him?" asked Angel, looking back down at Lily.

"I don't see a thing," said Lily.

"She's right. I see something up there. There's a pair of eyes staring at us," said Cody as he aimed his laser cannon at the thing hiding in the tree. _It can't be him! He's supposed to be dead!_ thought Angel.

"Come down here whoever or whatever you are!" yelled Cody at the thing hiding in the tree. As if to answer his command, something leapt from the tree blindingly fast and slammed into Cody, knocking him to the ground.

"Myr!" cried the little cobalt robot that had recently taken up residence in the village. Cody instantly reacted, extending the claws on his right hand and taking a swipe at the robot. But the robot was faster and jumped off before the blow could land.

"Myr!" it said once more. But this time it was a much lower tone. It didn't at all resemble the playful tone it had when it had first tackled Cody. The thing suddenly lunged at Cody, its beak shaped head opening up and clamping onto his left leg.

"Why you inferior piece of low grade technology! Let go of me!" cried Cody as he tried to shake the thing off as it growled at him. But the little robot held on tight. Anger taking over him, Cody raised his laser cannon to take a shot at the robot. But just before he could line up his sights, Lily grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Stop it!" cried Lily. Cody instantly focused his rage at his wife.

"But this piece of trash just tackled and now bit me! He's obviously a menace!" cried Cody.

"I'm sure he was just playing when he tackled you. And you provoked him to bite you when you took a swing at him," said Lily. She then placed a hand on the little robot's head and rubbed it gently.

"Come on Myr. Let Cody go," said Lily. Myr continued to growl softly for a few more seconds, then released his hold on Cody's leg. It then said its name a few more times angrily at Cody before walking off towards the village commons.

"That thing needs to be destroyed," said Cody as he got back to his feet.

"Stop it. It's your own fault he bit you. You shouldn't have taken a swing at him," said Lily. Cody sighed, then gave a nod.

"You're right I suppose. The little monster hasn't done anything to really endanger anyone. Still, I don't like the fact that I couldn't see him on my scanners up in the tree. For whatever reason he doesn't show up on them at all," said Cody flatly as they all started heading into the commons themselves. As Angel watched Myr head away from them, she inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

 _It was only the little guy that showed up just before we got back. But why did I see Leviathan's eyes staring at me instead of his yellow ones?_ she thought to herself as she glanced back at the tree line. But nothing out of the ordinary caught her glance. As she returned her attention forward, she hoped that she wouldn't think another thing about the mecha bot for the rest of the day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Drake gave a loud belch as he rubbed his stomach, pushing the large bowl of berries away from him.

"I give. You win," said the dragon chao as he looked over at his eating companion as she finished plopping another berry into her mouth.

"You shouldn't have challenged her Drake," said Angel as she and the rest of her friends watched the conclusion to Drake's eating challenge to Comet.

"She's right you know," said Comet as she swallowed her last berry. Her fifty sixth one to Drake's forty two.

"Why's that?" asked Drake.

"Because I'm a lot older, so I don't get full as fast as a chao of your age does," said Comet with a big grin on her face.

"I'll try and remember that next time," said Drake as he pouted.

"Oh don't be like that," said Lily as she picked him up and held him in her arms. "You'll get her next time once you're a little older."

"As amusing as that was, I have work to do. I'll see you all later," said Cody as he turned and walked out of the community hut. Everyone watched him leave before Sonic turned and looked over at Lily.

"That was rather abrupt, wasn't it?" he asked the magenta hedgehog. Lily sighed as she gazed at the doorway.

"Yeah...He's been kinda distant lately. Not sure why," said Lily.

"Should we be worried?" asked Sonic.

"I don't know," said Lily as she returned her gaze to her friends. "He's been distant a lot of the time ever since you guys returned from Angel's timeline." Angel looked at the ground as she heard Lily's statement.

"I think I might know why," said Angel.

"Yeah...I think I do too," said Sonic.

"What happened there? What's causing him to be distant at times?" asked Lily.

"Well...my timeline's Lily died during our final battle with Leviathan," said Angel as she looked back up at her.

"And he didn't take it very well," said Sonic, also remembering how Cody had distanced himself for several hours after they had returned to the Knothole in Angel's timeline. Lily got a horrified look on her face.

"I had no idea that had happened," said Lily. "That must've really torn at him. Why hasn't he ever told me about that?"

"Probably to spare you the thought of knowing what he was going thru," suggested Angel. "I know I kept my problems bottled up a lot ever since the night my timeline's village was destroyed."

"I should talk to him," said Lily as she got up and walked out of the hut.

* * *

"I'm surprised you haven't messed up at all since you started working on this with me Cody," said Nicole as her holo lynx form sat on Tails' workbench. Cody continued to fiddle with the rather small microchip he was working on, not looking up to respond to the AI. He had been working on it for several dozens of hours over the course of the last few weeks. Now it was mere hours away from being finished.

"Cody? Are you in there?" asked Lily's voice from outside of the large shed. Muttering something under his breath, Cody finally looked up from his work and turned around to face the door.

"Yes I am," answered Cody. Lily walked in a few moments later, a rather somber look on her face.

"What have you been working on in here so much lately?" asked Lily as she walked up to the two of them.

"He asked that I help him craft a microchip that would allow him to wirelessly connect with computers and interfaces like I can do," said Nicole.

"Why do you need to do that?" asked Lily, a little confused.

"Promise you won't laugh if I tell you?" asked Cody.

"Honey, I'd never laugh at you," said Lily.

"Ever since I became stuck in this body, part of me has yearned to be more. To be one with the computer world around me, much like how Nicole can interact with computer networks," said Cody. He paused for a second, then chuckled slightly as he shook his head.

"It's a rather silly dream, isn't it?" he said.

"I'm not sure 'silly' is the right word for it," said Lily. "Why do you want to be one with the computers around you? Don't tell me you want to stay in that body. You've always said you wanted to be returned to normal someday."

"And I do want to return to my original body someday. More so than you'd ever believe," said Cody.

"Then why make yourself more computerized than you already are?" asked Lily.

"I finally figured if I was to be stuck like this for an indefinite amount of time, I might as well make this body the best I can make it," said Cody.

"Makes perfect sense if you ask me," said Nicole.

"Nicole. Can I ask a favor?" asked Lily as she looked over at the lynx.

"Sure," said Nicole.

"Would you mind powering down for a few minutes? I need to talk to Cody...alone," said Lily. Nicole got a surprised look on her face, then slowly nodded her head.

"Yeah...I can do that. Just flip me closed and that'll put me in sleep mode. Then open me back up when you're done," said Nicole.

"Thank you," said Lily as she reached over and flipped Nicole's screen down into its resting place, the lynx vanishing. She then turned back towards Cody.

"Is this because of me?" asked Lily, gesturing towards the computer chip. Instantly Cody got a confused look on his face.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Are you trying to distance yourself from me by doing this?" asked Lily.

"Why would I ever do that?" asked Cody.

"Cody...you've been distant a lot of the time ever since you got back from Angel's timeline. The others just now noticed it when you left abruptly from breakfast," said Lily. "I've been trying my best to shrug it off. I thought maybe you were going thru a phase or something."

"Honey, nothing is wrong. I'm just really absorbed in this project, that's all. I'm not meaning to be distant if I'm coming across that way," said Cody.

"But you are. And I think I know why now," said Lily. She paused here for a few moments before continuing. "I know what happened to you in Angel's timeline."

"What do you mean?" asked Cody.

"I know her timeline's version of me died defeating Leviathan in her world," said Lily.

"Oh that..." said Cody, looking away from her. "I'm guessing Sonic or Angel told you about it then?"

"They both did. Cody, they're worried. Worried that experiencing that trauma is eating at you. And I'm worried too. I feel like I'm starting to lose you lately," said Lily as she started to tear up.

"I'm sorry to worry you Lily," said Cody as he embraced her in a hug. "You know you're everything to me."

"Then please stop being distant with me. Let me help you work out whatever problems came up when I died in Angel's timeline," said Lily as she looked up into her husband's eyes. Their soft yellow glow gazed back as a smile formed on his metallic muzzle.

"Alright. I'll tell you what. I'll put aside my project for a few days and spend all my time with you to make up for being distant lately," said Cody.

"I'd like that," said Lily as she returned the smile. "But you and I are gonna talk about what happened, okay?" Cody's smile disappeared at hearing that.

"I'd rather not at least for a little while longer, if that's okay?" said Cody.

"Why?" asked Lily.

"I just want to get my ducks in a row about that before we talk. I've tried not to dwell on what happened in that timeline too much. What happened there still eats at me a lot," said Cody.

"Alright honey...We can wait on the talk. Just you being with me for the next few days will be enough for now," said Lily. She then reached over and flipped Nicole's screen back open. Almost instantly Nicole reappeared sitting in the same spot as before.

"Everything good now?" asked Nicole.

"As good as gold I think," said Cody with a smile.

* * *

Angel walked down the pathway leading to her temporary home, a small smile on her face. Today had been just what she had needed in her mind. She had spent the whole day with Comet, sharing her experiences traveling the southern continent the last several months.

They had also gone on a nature walk with Lily and Cody thru the Great Forest, picking out herbs for the medical hut's use. They'd also managed to find several bushes with ripe jurby berries. This had especially made Angel's day as those were her favorites, much to Comet's delight.

"Sonic was right. I did need to open up. Even if I didn't vocalize my issues, today was the best day I've had since returning here," she said to herself. Suddenly, she stiffened as the all too familiar feeling of being watched washed over her. Coming to a stop, she began to train her eyes over the immediate area. It was near the end of twilight, so the pathway was only lit by the lanterns that lined the path.

"Where are you Myr? You're the only one I know that would be hiding intentionally out here," said Angel, expecting the little robot to be readying to pounce her just as it had Cody that morning. But nothing answered her as she continued to look around. She suddenly froze as she as saw a creature step out of the edge of the foliage of the forest in the direction of her hut. Fear gripped her as she started to back away from the creature standing there, shaking her head slowly back and forth.

The creature stood seven feet tall and was twenty feet in length. It had black skin and an orange underbelly. Its head and upper jaw were one piece, the teeth built right into the face. Its shoulders, back, flanks, thighs and tail were gleaming silver metal. The tip of its tail was barbed with six-inch spikes with the toe-claws on its hind feet being twice the size they should have been. It had three clawed fingers and an opposable thumb at the end of each hand. And around its neck was a collar with a green gemstone set in the lower center section of the collar.

"No...no it can't be you," said Angel as she continued to slowly back away as the creature started to walk towards her.

"Oh but it is, my dearest little Angel," said Leviathan in his deep, fluid voice as he slowly headed in her direction. "You thought you were rid of me so easily. However, I'm not so easy to kill."

"Stay away from me!" cried Angel as she turned and started to run away from the robotic raptor.

"Oh I love a good chase!" she heard Leviathan cry from behind her. Angel ran as fast as she could, not daring to look behind her such was her fear.

"Everybody run!" shouted Angel as she ran into the commons. Everyone nearby looked up, each one wondering what had freaked out the echidna so badly. This included Sonic who was talking with Cody and Lily.

"Whoa Angel! Calm down!" cried Sonic as he zipped over to her and caught her in his arms.

"But he's here! He's back!" cried Angel.

"Who's here?" asked Sonic, now genuinely confused.

"Leviathan! He's right behind me!" cried Angel, pointing back down the path she had come from. Sonic instantly snapped to attention, stepping in front of Angel. Looking down the path, he waited with baited breath for the arrival of the mecha bot. But after the seconds ticked by and nothing happened, he relaxed himself a little and looked back at Angel.

"Are you sure you saw him?" asked Sonic, looking back at Angel.

"I'm positive! He even spoke to me, Sonic! I can't forget that voice!" said Angel. Sonic looked over at Cody.

"Cody. Watch Angel incase he really is here and tries to get to her. I'm sure if he really is alive he has a bone to pick with her. Probably with the two of us as well," said Sonic.

"I'll be sure to have my scanners on full alert," said Cody as he ran over to them.

"Good. I'm gonna look around the area. He can run fast, but I'm ten times faster. If he's here, I'll find him," said Sonic. He then took off with a sonic boom. Several minutes went by before another sonic boom sounded Sonic's return to the commons.

"Did you find him?'" asked Cody.

"Didn't see any trace of him," said Sonic.

"But I saw him Sonic. He talked to me. I know he's here in the area," said Angel shakily.

"Angel, I looked around the entire forest and even a bit of the area outside of it. There's no way he could've escaped that quickly no matter which direction he went in," said Sonic.

"Sounds like she's gone nuts to me. We all know Leviathan is dead," said Cody. Angel look over at Cody partially in disbelief, but at the same time she couldn't help but wonder if maybe she was starting to come unglued. The last few days events coupled with this latest one leaned towards that conclusion.

"How could you even suggest that?" asked Sonic angrily as he glared at Cody, who merely shrugged in response.

"Actually, Sonic...I...I need to talk with you," said Angel.

"About what?" asked Sonic, looking back over at her.

"I'd rather not elaborate out in the open. Can we go back to my hut? Please?" asked Angel. Sonic gave a nod.

"Alright. I'll lead the way. Cody? Do you mind coming with us to stand guard? Despite the fact I didn't see Leviathan, I'm not taking the chance that he isn't alive and stalking Angel," asked Sonic.

"Sure thing," said Cody. The trip back to Angel's hut was uneventful this time. As the two entered the hut, Angel locked the door behind them as a precaution as Sonic took a seat on the sofa. Angel took a seat in the chair on the sofa's left side.

"So what's up Angel?" asked Sonic.

"First off...I want to apologize for what happened out there," said Angel as she looked at the ground.

"You don't need to apologize. If you really think you saw Leviathan I can't blame you for reacting that way," said Sonic.

"Still...I haven't been up front with you or anyone else about something. I think its about time I fully open up and tell you what's been bothering me so much lately," said Angel.

"You sure you want to tell me? Comet's been your friend a lot longer than I have," said Sonic.

"I'm sure. Comet's a great friend. She's stuck by my side thru the darkest of times. But I don't want her to know just how bad off I've been since we came back to this timeline with you and Cody. I'm just glad she was with Sally when I came charging into the commons like I did. She's been thru enough without having to worry about me now," said Angel.

"How bad could it be?" asked Sonic, now concerned.

"Pretty bad. Especially today," said Angel. She sighed as she closed her eyes. "First off, I want to ask a question. And don't laugh, it's completely serious."

"No laughing. I promise," said Sonic. Angel smiled slightly at hearing Sonic give his word. He knew how much promises meant to her. And it reassured her that he was taking this completely seriously.

"What do you think about our destinies?" asked Angel. Sonic raised an eyebrow at the question.

"What do you mean?" asked Sonic.

"What decides it? Is it something that is set in stone? Or is it something that we can change?" asked Angel.

"What brought on such a serious philosophical question?" asked Sonic.

"Because I'm scared of my destiny," said Angel.

"Why are you scared of your destiny?" asked Sonic. "No one can predict their own destiny."

"I try to tell myself that. Every day since I arrived in this timeline I've tried to let go of my past and let go of what should have been my destiny in my timeline," said Angel.

"Well...To answer your question, I personally think everyone has their own destiny to follow. Our lives lead us down the path to it. Everything we do and everyone we interact with leads us to it," said Sonic.

"That's just it, Sonic. I don't want to believe we have a set destiny. I want nothing more than to believe that we can change our destiny. That it isn't set in stone," said Angel.

"I think I know what's bothering you, although it's just a guess. This is about your promise to Leviathan, isn't it?" asked Sonic. Angel looked a little shocked by Sonic's guess.

"How did you know?" asked Angel.

"Because I figured if anything about your past was bothering you that'd be the most likely culprit," said Sonic. Angel sighed as she lowered her head.

"It has been bothering me. Almost every day in fact. Nearly every night I have a very vivid nightmare. It's the same every time," said Angel.

"Tell me about it. Maybe detailing it to me will give me a little insight into how to help you," said Sonic. Angel gave a nod, then proceeded to explain the dream to Sonic.

"And that's when I wake up," said Angel as she finished recalling her dream.

"Well...I'm no expert on dreams. But what I gather from it is you're afraid Leviathan will come back to take control of you again," said Sonic.

"It's a stupid, unjustified fear to be honest," said Angel softly. "Leviathan's dead. I killed him myself in this timeline and you saw his dead body in my timeline. There's no way he could still be around."

"And yet you saw him tonight," said Sonic.

"I'm starting to wonder if I really did or not," said Angel. "This morning I thought I heard Leviathan's voice, but it was inside the hut where I'd see him if he was there. But that's not the first weird thing that's been going on."

"What do you mean?" asked Sonic.

"I've been seeing things disappear and reappear moments after I turn away from where the item was at and then look back at it," said Angel. "I don't know...Maybe Cody was right and all the stress of my life has caught up with me. Maybe Shadow's death pushed me over the edge."

"You're still bothered by Shadow's death, aren't you?" asked Sonic.

"Yes...I still feel like I caused it to happen," admitted Angel. Sonic sighed as he closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Angel...How many times do we have to tell you? It wasn't your fault. I blame myself because I didn't think ahead when we teleported the ARK back into orbit. Shadow had to have known we couldn't teleport it and ourselves at the same time, so he caught me in his Chaos Control to save my life. I should've realized what he was doing and caught him in mine as well..." said Sonic.

"I wish I could believe that Sonic. But no matter what logic I tell myself, I still come to that conclusion," said Angel.

"Well...I can't change your mind for you. It's just something you're going to have to come to grips with yourself, though I don't mean to be harsh by saying that," said Sonic.

"I'm not taking it as harsh. But it still furthers my destiny dilemma. Was Shadow destined to die saving the planet regardless of what I did? Or did I change his destiny to that by my actions?" asked Angel.

"I can't tell you Angel. But consider this," said Sonic. "In your timeline, you changed your own fate once before."

"How so?" asked Angel.

"Because you used the Time Stones to change your fate in the past. You stopped Mecha from killing your younger self," said Sonic. Angel suddenly sat upright at hearing that.

"Of course! I didn't even think about that," said Angel. "So then we can change our destinies?

"I'm not saying we can. It might have been your destiny to save yourself like that. Perhaps it was destiny that me and my friends showed up in your timeline and changed its future for all intensive purposes," said Sonic.

"Yes...You showing up had profound effects on my world. And on me as well. That's undeniable," said Angel.

"It still doesn't give a definitive answer though. Me and my friends didn't choose to travel to your timeline, but we did anyways," said Sonic. "It could be that destiny chose for us to do so. Who's to say?"

"So we're back at square one..." said Angel dejectedly.

"It's definitely a question above the both of us I think. I'd say believe what you want about destiny, though I doubt that'll make you feel much better," said Sonic. Angel just smiled slightly.

"It's alright. You at least gave me something to think about on the subject," said Angel.

"As for your fear of Leviathan and the other stuff that's been going on with you lately, I'm not sure how to help you with that," said Sonic sadly.

"It's simple," said Angel as she looked at the ground. "I can't be afraid of what might be when I don't know for sure what will be. If Leviathan really is alive, I can't let my fear of him rule me if he does show himself again."

"Please take that to heart. You're one of the bravest people I've ever met and certainly the most honorable. I hate seeing you ruled by your fear like this," said Sonic.

"Thanks for the concern. I just...I don't know. Everything has me so on edge lately. But before I arrived here I didn't let it get to me anywhere near this badly though," said Angel.

"So what's different now compared to then?" asked Sonic.

"The only real difference is now I'm surrounded by all the friends I made here," said Angel. "Maybe I should leave. Maybe being around everyone is affecting me even worse than when I was alone."

"Don't leave," said Sonic.

"But why not?" asked Angel. "Everything was under control before I came back here with you."

"Because I think something else is going on here. I don't believe your starting to crack, despite what Cody said and what you yourself are thinking," said Sonic.

"Then what could it be if not that?" asked Angel.

"I'm not sure. My advice for now is to try and keep everything as normal. Hopefully nothing else will happen, but if it does we'll be here for you and help you figure it out," said Sonic.

"That's not very reassuring," said Angel.

"Well, I can't promise anything else," said Sonic. "But please stay with us. I'm afraid if you do leave something worse will happen to you."

"Alright...I promise I'll stay here for a little while longer. But if these problems persist and we don't find a reason that points to something other than myself coming unglued, let me leave," said Angel.

"Alright...It's against my better judgment, but I'll agree to that," said Sonic.

"Thank you," said Angel.

"Is there anything else my friends or I can do for you tonight?" asked Sonic.

"Actually, if he doesn't mind it, I'll sleep better if Cody keeps guard outside tonight. That incident tonight still has me a little freaked. I don't really believe I saw Leviathan now, but I can't rule out that I didn't," said Angel.

"I'm sure he'll have no problem doing that," said Sonic.

* * *

The sun was barely rising over the horizon of the Great Meadow, shining its light thru the trees of the Great Forest as the hour was nigh upon six o'clock in the morning. Cody sighed as he stood outside of Angel's hut. He smiled as he saw Sonic come walking down the path.

"So did our lizard friend ever come back?" asked Sonic.

"Hasn't been a blip on my scanners all night," said Cody as Sonic reached him. "Are you sure she didn't just imagine seeing him?"

"I honestly don't know," admitted Sonic. "But I know something around here stinks badly."

"If you want my honest opinion, I think she's losing it," said Cody as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I don't believe that," said Sonic.

"If you say so," said Cody. "I'm just worried that if she is really starting to lose it that she may do something to hurt herself. Or worse, one of us."

"I'm more worried that she'll get hurt than us," said Sonic.

"You really care a lot for her for only knowing her for a short time, don't you?" asked Cody.

"What kind of question is that?" asked Sonic, frowning at Cody.

"I'm just saying that you seem to be more concerned with her than you are with us," said Cody. "We've only been around her for a short time. What do we really know about her? What will you do if she really does become a threat to us?"

"And what makes you think she'll even become a threat to us?" asked Sonic.

"I'm not saying she will, but nonetheless the possibility is still there," said Cody.

"I can't believe we're even having this conversation!" said Sonic angrily.

"I'm just being realistic is all. No need to bite my head off," said Cody, reciprocating Sonic's anger.

"Look Cody. After everything Angel told me last night, I have no doubt in my mind that something else is going on around here. Yes...She's troubled by a lot of stuff at the moment, but I don't believe she's losing her mind because of it," said Sonic. Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream echoed forth from Angel's hut, causing both hedgehogs to turn back towards it.

"What was that?" cried Cody.

"It's Angel!" cried Sonic as he ran over to the door. But turning the knob, he realized the door was locked. "She locked the door! Cody!"

"On it!" said Cody as Sonic stepped aside. Cody then raised his laser cannon in line with the knob. Firing a shot, the laser blasted the knob off the door, allowing Sonic to run in. Seeing that she wasn't in the living room, he ran into her bedroom only to come to a stunned stop at the sight he saw.

"Is she alright Sonic?" asked Cody as he ran into the bedroom behind Sonic, also coming to a stop at the scene that was now in front of him. "What in the world?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"What in the world?" asked Cody as he and Sonic took in the sight now set before them. Angel was curled into a fetal position on her bed, sobbing to herself uncontrollably. But it wasn't her condition that had prompted the question from Cody. Rather it was what was in the room with her.

Nearly the entire space on the four walls of the room had graffiti written in what looked like black sharpie of various phrases and words. Things such as "your fault" and "destiny". But the one that predominately stood out was a sentence that was four times bigger than the rest on the wall opposite of where Angel's bed was that said "You can't escape your destiny".

"Never mind that for now, we have to get her out of here," said Sonic as he ran over the to the bed and scooped Angel up in his arms. She remained unresponsive and continued to sob heavily as Sonic took her out of the hut with Cody right behind him. Sonic set her down with her back against a tree right outside of her hut once they were outside. She immediately curled back into a fetal position as her crying continued.

"Angel! Angel, can you hear me? It's Sonic. Please snap out of it," said Sonic as he shook her softly. But Angel continued to ball to herself.

"I don't think she even knows we're here," said Cody.

"Well, if I can't reach her, then I can only think of one other that has a chance," said Sonic. With that, Sonic sped off with a sonic boom. Twenty seconds later, another sonic boom sounded his return with the only one who could hopefully reach the disturbed echidna.

"Oh my gosh! You weren't kidding Sonic!" cried Comet as she saw her best friend in shambles. Comet immediately flew over next to Angel.

"Mistress...it's Comet. Can you hear me?" asked Comet. Angel didn't respond to Comet's question, continuing to sob uncontrollably. "Angel, please come back to me. I can't bear to see you like this."

"I don't think even her chao's gonna get thru to her," said Cody.

"She has to try," said Sonic as they watched helplessly.

"Remember the first time we saw each other after I transformed? You were so happy to see me and the same was for me," said Comet. Tears started to come to the chao's eyes. "The first thing I did when I could finally talk to you was promise you that I'd always look out for you. I'm keeping my promise to you now Angel, just as I always have over the years." At first, nothing changed. Then after a few seconds, Angel's sobbing started to subside slightly.

"I think it's working Comet. Keep talking to her," said Sonic.

"I know you went thru a lot of hardships growing up after what happened to our home. But you were so strong even as a child. And you continued to be strong thru the darkest of times," said Comet. She then flew up next to Angel's head and placed her hands on top of her head. Angel's sobbing continued to grow softer as Comet kept talking to her.

"I need you to come back to me Angel. You're my strength. I need you to be with me so I can be strong. Please don't let this darkness that's surrounded you take you from me," said Comet. As she said this a pair of tears was shed from her eyes, both of them landing on Angel's face. A few seconds later, Angel's sobbing stopped. She slowly reached up and grasped Comet in her hands, bringing her close to her body.

"I'm sorry Comet...I'm so sorry..." whispered Angel as she hugged her chao.

"Thank the high heavens of Mobius..." whispered Comet as she returned the hug. "I thought I had lost you for good this time." Angel held the hug for several seconds before breaking it, looking up at the two hedgehogs standing off to their side.

"You okay now?" asked Sonic, his worried look not lost on Angel.

"No...I'm not okay. But I think I'm stable for the moment," said Angel as she wiped the last of the tears from her eyes.

"Well, that's good. You really had us worried," said Sonic.

"I barely remember what happened," said Angel as she looked at the ground.

"Don't think about it right now," said Sonic as he knelt next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "The important thing is that you're alright."

"You're right. I'm sorry to worry you so much. All of you," said Angel softly.

"I'm just glad you're okay mistress," said Comet. "But what caused this to happen?"

"I think it's time you told her what's been going on, even if you don't really want to," said Sonic softly. Angel just nodded.

"You're right. I can't keep this from her anymore," said Angel as she slowly got to her feet along with Sonic.

"Keep what from me?" asked Comet, looking up at Angel.

"Forgive me Comet. I should've told you sooner. But right now, I need to get away from here. We'll take a walk thru the forest and I'll tell you everything," said Angel as she started walking into the forest, Comet staying in her arms. As she vanished from view, Cody turned to Sonic.

"Well...do you believe me now?" asked Cody.

"Not yet. I want to get a better look at that writing in her bedroom," said Sonic as he walked towards Angel's hut. Cody just sighed and followed after him. Arriving in the bedroom, Sonic looked over the writing on the walls again closely, then just gave a nod of his head before turning back to Cody.

"She didn't do this," said Sonic. Cody looked stunned by the statement.

"You can't seriously believe that, can you? She's obviously a basket case, just look at all the stuff she wrote on the walls!" said Cody.

"And again, I say she didn't do this. Someone's trying to mess her up badly and is using her darkest fears to do so," said Sonic, frowning at him.

"Sonic...I want to believe you, I really do. But the door was locked and I was standing guard all night. No one came within fifty yards of the hut," said Cody.

"Then what if you did it?" asked Sonic. Cody just frowned and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Now you're just gonna randomly accuse me of doing this? I don't know the first thing about her, so how could I possibly know these phrases and words would affect her that way?" asked Cody. He then turned his back to Sonic. "Honestly, I thought you were a better than that to just accuse someone cause you're upset at the situation." Sonic sighed softly.

"You're right. I am blaming you for no reason. I'm sorry," said Sonic. He then looked back at the writing. "Still, someone here knows her worst fears and regrets and is using that knowledge against her."

"Sonic...The only person that I know of that she's talked with one on one with about her problems is you," said Cody, turning back to face him again.

"So now you're gonna blame me right back?" asked Sonic, looking offended.

"I'm not saying you did this, but whenever she got freaked out last night, she talked to you about it. And I can only assume she told you something extremely personal relating to the writing on the walls," said Cody.

"I would _never_ do anything to harm her. I'd rather die," said Sonic.

"Then we're back to my thought that she has cracked," said Cody.

"I just don't believe that," said Sonic. He then pointed to the largest phrase on the wall. "Look at it closely. If she was the one writing it, then why does it say 'you can't escape your destiny'? It should be in the first person, not the second."

"Now you're just using semantics to justify your position," said Cody.

"It's not just that. My gut tells me she's not the one who did this," said Sonic.

"Well...I hate to say this, but your 'gut' isn't gonna sway me from what the facts are showing me," said Cody.

"Still, I trust my gut a lot of the time and it's rarely wrong," said Sonic.

"So let's say someone is messing with her for the sake of the argument. What can we do to stop it if I couldn't detect them doing this last night?" asked Cody, gesturing to the walls.

"I'm not sure..." said Sonic.

"Exactly. Maybe the best thing for her at this point would be to leave Knothole and get away from whoever is doing it if that's really the case," said Cody.

"I would agree with that except that if my gut's wrong and she is the one doing this to herself, I don't want her to be alone cause that'll only end badly for her," said Sonic.

"Then I say we let her decide what to do," said Cody. "If she feels she'll be safer away from Knothole, we let her go willingly. If she'd rather stay her so we can keep an eye on her, then we'll do that."

"I guess that's all we can do at the moment, as much as I don't like it," said Sonic. "Still, she can't come back here. All it will do is remind her of what just happened."

"I'm not sure anyone's gonna want her to stay with them either after her freak out last night. Word of that incident traveled pretty fast. We only kept it from Comet cause we didn't want her worrying over it," said Cody.

"Well, for the time being I guess she can stay with me," said Sonic. "She'd probably feel safest with me at the very least."

"You really care about her a lot, don't you?" asked Cody.

"I consider her one of my closest friends, despite only knowing her for a short time," said Sonic.

"Why?" asked Cody.

"I can't really put a fine point on it," said Sonic. He thought about it for a few moments longer. "I guess after everything she went thru in her timeline, I want to protect her more than ever in ours so she won't suffer thru something like that ever again."

"I have to say that you have the most noble heart of anyone I've ever met, Sonic," said Cody. "But as much as you probably don't want me to say this, I feel I have to."

"Say what?" asked Sonic, genuinely confused.

"I think you're good intentions aren't going to help this situation. If she is truly going crazy, you can't stop that from happening. And if someone is messing with her, I don't know how you can stop that either if we don't have a clue who is doing it or how they're doing it," said Cody.

"I guess I can't argue with that..." said Sonic as he lowered his head. As much as he wanted to say Cody was wrong, the robian had a point. Regardless of which circumstance was the truth, he felt powerless to stop it.

* * *

"So more of these 'Myr' things are popping up around the human cities as well?" asked Sally.

"It would appear so, princess," said President Quinn's holo image being projected in Sally's living room. The president had gotten in contact with Sally shortly after lunch to begin discussions on how the human government would be able to lend its aid in restoring the mobian kingdom back to glory. After the incident with the space colony ARK, as well as Sally supporting the human president during that time, the human nation was finally relenting on its stance against helping.

However, the conversation had quickly gotten side tracked whenever Sally had noticed that a robot that looked exactly like Myr but gold in color was in the background of the president's private retreat thru the holo image. Now they were discussing where the small robots were coming from and what exactly it was they were doing.

"I don't like this Mr. President," said Sally. "We have one of these things with us in Knothole right now as well. It hasn't been violent. Rather, it seems to just wander around the village observing everything while occasionally wanting to play with people."

"That pretty much describes what all our official sightings say, as well as what this one here has been doing," said Quinn. "But if they're observing us, then for what purpose are they doing it and for who?"

"I doubt these are Eggman's machines. He wouldn't program them to play with people," said Sally.

"I agree with that sentiment," said Quinn. "Still, they are quite advanced even by our standards."

"Which has me worried about who's the one pulling the strings," said Sally. "If these are just their observation robots, then how advanced would the combat ones be if they are a hostile party?"

"A troubling thought indeed..." said Quinn.

* * *

"This combat robot is just really strange, that's my official opinion of it," said Tails as he sat at the back of his workshop, continuing to examine the Gizoid robot they had brought back with them from ARK. Tails had it sitting on his workbench next to a few other items, including the fake indigo Chaos Emerald.

The robot was about the same height as Tails, colored yellow with orange highlights. The single fin that came off its forehead and pointed just above the middle of the top of its head was the only non-humanoid looking part about it. It's blank, black eyes showed no signs of life at the moment, though Tails had been hopeful to change that.

"So you still haven't been able to figure out how to access its inner workings yet to see how to get it back online?" asked Nicole as she sat on his workbench next to him.

"Not in the slightest. No panels, no ports, nothing," said Tails. He then looked up at Nicole. "Unless you have any ideas, I'm stumped."

"I think we need to take a more historical approach to this problem," said Nicole as she looked over at the robot. "According to Professor Gerald, the Gizoid is approximately five thousand years old. There were no civilizations that I'm aware of at the time that could produce such a machine. In fact, the only civilization that I know of that even had a strong presence at that time were the echidnas."

"Makes sense. Tikal was born close to the fall of their civilization from what all of us have been able to gather about the visions she showed us," said Tails.

"And yet you said that she mentioned a 'war' that was going on between her clan and another," said Nicole. "That may have some bearing in this mystery."

"How so?" asked Tails.

"This robot is built for combat, or at least that's what Gerald surmised from his brief research of it. Not something a peaceful civilization would need in the least. Perhaps the Gizoid is a creation of the warring faction," suggested Nicole.

"It's possible. But we barely know anything about the echidna clans of old. Historical records of them are virtually nonexistent," said Tails.

"My point to all of this is that we have two echidnas that we can ask directly. Perhaps one of them might know enough about their history to tell us what we need to know," said Nicole.

"That's an extremely long shot in the dark. Knuckles is basically blind to his race's history and Angel's a warrior, not a historian," said Tails.

"A question never asked is a question never answered," said Nicole.

"Since when did you become a philosopher?" asked Tails with a smile.

"I've been trying to work on it. Sally says it'll drive Sonic nuts talking to him like that," said Nicole with her own smile.

"Now you're just trying to be mean to him," said Tails, now frowning.

"Oh he knows it's in fun...I think," she said before looking up at the ceiling for a few seconds in thought. She then looked down with a somewhat sad look on her face. "Okay...Maybe he doesn't know it's in jest. I'll try not to do it in front of him."

"He'd appreciate that. I'll be back in a little bit," said Tails as he got off his stool and walked out of the workshop.

* * *

Angel stared down at the ground from the tree limb she was seated at with her head in her hands. Comet was sitting on the limb next to her, looking just as depressed. Angel had told Comet everything, down to the last detail. It had nearly crushed the poor chao, just as Angel had feared it would. But she also knew she had to tell Comet everything.

It was better for Comet to hear the problems from her instead of finding out from someone else. It was bad enough how the chao had found out something was amiss earlier that morning. Now the two sat in silence with their thoughts, the tree they were now seated on a fair distance from the village.

"There you are Angel. I've been trying to find you for the last-" said Tails as he came flying towards them from Knothole's direction. But as soon as he had seen the looks on both their faces it caused him to stop mid sentence before he flew up to within about ten feet of them. "Um...Everything okay?"

"Not really," said Angel as she continued to look at the ground.

"If it's a bad time, I can come find you later," said Tails. Angel gave a soft sigh, then looked back up at him.

"It's alright. What do you need?" asked Angel.

"I just wanted to ask you if you knew anything about the ancient echidna clans," said Tails. Angel cocked an eyebrow at the question.

"What about them?" asked Angel.

"Were any of them technologically advanced? Like did they have machines and stuff that rivaled or even surpassed the current technological age we're now in," asked Tails.

"What brought on this sudden interest?" asked Angel, now curious as to where this was going.

"Nicole has a theory that the Gizoid robot we brought back with us was the product of the echidna clan that was warring with Tikal's clan. But virtual no historical records exist to even cross check that theory," said Tails.

"Well, yes. My clan, the Nocturnus, was very technologically advanced at the height of their civilization," said Angel.

"You're a descendant of the clan that went to war against the other clans?" asked Tails.

"That note in history of my ancestors I'm not proud of, but yes. I'm the last surviving pureblooded Nocturnus echidna left on Mobius," said Angel.

"Wait. What do you mean by that?" asked Tails, his own interest now caught by Angel's statement.

"All the other pureblooded Nocturnus echidnas died about five years ago to some disease, or at least that's what my friend Kirrand told me. That included my family. This timeline's version of me died around that time," said Angel.

"I'm sorry," said Tails as he looked down.

"It's nothing to fret over. I made peace with that fact fairly soon after I learned it. I may be the last pureblood, but my clan still lives on in the families that are mixed blood. Kirrand herself comes from a mixed blood family history dating back several generations," said Angel.

"Mistress. You're getting side tracked from his original question," said Comet as she looked up at the echidna. Angel looked down at her, then laughed lightly as she realized she'd let the question become personal.

"You're right Comet. To answer your question Tails, my village has scrolls and books with information and accounts dating back to the time of the Fall. Some of the technological wonders that the Nocturnus created during the years leading up to that surpassed anything I've seen in my life. Even Eggman's creations seem outclassed by some of the stuff they created," said Angel.

"So if this Gizoid is truly a work of the Nocturnus, any ideas on what I'd have to do to get it up and running again?" asked Tails.

"Well...that's the real question, isn't it?" said Angel. "From what I remember reading when I was a little girl, someone known in our history texts as 'The Maker' was the lead scientist for the last Nocturnus ruler. After the Fall happened, the texts describe him trying to create the ultimate fighting machine to stop a threat to the planet that had emerged after the Fall," said Angel.

"What kind of threat? Chaos was sealed in the Master Emerald when the Fall happened, wasn't he?" asked Tails.

"He was, or at least that's what I gathered from your recounts of Tikal's visions," said Angel. "Honestly I haven't a clue what threat the texts are referring to. They don't mention it by name."

"Well, that makes me think this Gizoid was perhaps a prototype or maybe even the final version of that goal," said Tails.

"Perhaps. The texts mentioned that The Maker was also studying the Chaos Emeralds briefly during that time, trying to figure out how to incorporate them into his creations," said Angel. Tails lowered his head in thought for several seconds.

"No...It couldn't be that simple, could it?" he asked himself. He then turned and started to fly back towards Knothole as fast as his twin tails could carry him.

"What couldn't be that simple?" asked Angel as she stood up. But Tails didn't answer her as he vanished from her view.

* * *

"That's very strange that the inner core of the moon that Eggman destroyed isn't showing any data to the satellites the government has trained on it," said Nicole as she sat on Tails' workbench. While the young fox was out, she had received a priority message from Rouge. Now the two were in discussion of a topic that had them both astounded at the moment.

"That's not even the weirdest part. While we haven't been able to get any readings on the inner core, the satellites are telling us that an atmosphere with a composition exactly like ours is slowly beginning to spread over the rest of the moon," said Rouge.

"Okay. Now that's officially the strangest thing I've heard since I've become self aware," said Nicole. "Do we have any idea what's causing it?"

"Not really. Our top scientists' best guess is that the atmosphere was contained in the inner core and now that it's been exposed, it's leaking onto the surface," said Rouge.

"Well, I'm not sure how much help I can be, but I'll try to help keep an eye on this development," said Nicole.

"I'd appreciate it," said Rogue. "Unfortunately, I don't have any more time to be social. Commander Korvak's court marshal begins today and I'm one of the people testifying against him."

"Eww...that doesn't seem like any fun," said Nicole as she cringed.

"It won't be. Testifying against one of my bosses isn't something I had ever planned on doing, but he dug his own grave is all I'll say. I'll catch ya later lynx girl," said Rogue as she cut the transmission. _Atmosphere on the moon...What's causing it and what could it mean by it being there?_ thought Nicole to herself as she looked at the ground in thought. Less than ten seconds later, her train of thought was broken as Tails practically knocked the door to the workshop down as he arrived in a rush.

"What's got you so excited?" asked Nicole.

"Cause I think I know how to get the Gizoid up and running," said Tails as he picked up the fake Chaos Emerald from the workbench. "If my theory is correct, even though this is a much weaker version of the real thing, making contact with the Gizoid with this might activate him."

"But don't the Chaos Emeralds usually short out electronic devices?" asked Nicole.

"Usually, but I figured out how to block their negative effects and I'm guessing the Nocturnus echidnas did too," said Tails. He then slowly pressed the fake emerald to the Gizoid's chest plate. At first, nothing happened. Then, without warning, the fake emerald was absorbed by the robot.

"Hey!" cried Tails as he realized the little robot had just swiped one of his prize inventions from him.

"Was that supposed to happen?" asked Nicole.

"I don't know, but this thing had better cough it back up!" said Tails angrily. Suddenly the limp robot shot upright, its black eyes switching to a bright blue.

"Power source inserted. Initiating systems check," said Gizoid in a medium pitched male voice as his eyes started blinking rapidly.

"Well, I guess your theory was right despite the thing actually absorbing your trinket," said Nicole.

"I guess so," said Tails, his anger now gone. Nearly a minute went by before Gizoid spoke again.

"Systems check complete. All systems are functional. Processing location," said Gizoid. A few more seconds went before it cocked its head slightly. "Internal global positioning software indicates Gizoid is located in a forest far to the northwest of last known location. Gizoid wishes to know how Gizoid arrived in this location."

"I brought you here," said Tails. Gizoid looked down at Tails.

"You are not the Maker. Gizoid was only to be revived by the Maker once diagnostics were complete," said Gizoid.

"Gizoid...You're creator has been dead for thousands of years," said Tails.

"Impossible. Chronometer indicates it is day 59, year 1541. The Maker finished Gizoid's programming less than a day prior to this activation," said Gizoid. Tails got a confused look on his face at the statement. He then looked over at Nicole.

"That makes no sense if he's over five thousand years old," said Tails.

"Actually, that makes perfect sense," said Nicole.

"How?" asked Tails, looking over at her, his face still filled with confusion.

"Mobius didn't change our calendars over to human time standards till the human year 2234. Before that, the last Mobius year was 6537," said Nicole.

"Really? I never knew that," said Tails.

"It was done to standardize the calendar for both species so there wouldn't be any confusion between the nations," said Nicole.

"So then some quick math should give Gizoid the proper year his chronometer should be readjusted to," said Tails. Nicole looked over at Gizoid.

"Gizoid, the current date is day 249, year 6626," said Nicole. Gizoid looked up at her, then cocked his head once more.

"Subject is advanced AI holo projection. Processing probable accuracy of AI's statement of time," said Gizoid. Several seconds ticked by before he spoke again. "Accuracy probability 99.994%. Updating chronometer."

"Now that we have that figured out, can you list your functions?" asked Tails. Gizoid looked back at him.

"Gizoid's primary function is to engage enemy subject Scourge. Learn how to defeat subject Scourge. Stop random global destruction by subject Scourge," said Gizoid. Both Nicole and Tails looked at each other.

"Maybe this 'Scourge' person is the threat Angel mentioned that the Maker was trying to stop," suggested Tails.

"I'm in the dark here. Mind filling me in," said Nicole with a bit of a pout on her face. Tails apologized, then explained to her what Angel had told him.

"Well, I'd say that fits the description Gizoid just gave us," said Nicole. She then looked over at Gizoid.

"Gizoid. I don't know who this 'Scourge' is, but I can only assume he or she was stopped long ago. Otherwise our world wouldn't be in the state it's in today," said Nicole.

"Processing," said Gizoid. Several seconds ticked by before he spoke again. "Gizoid agrees with statement. Five thousand, eighty five years have passed and world has forgotten subject Scourge. Subject Scourge must have been stopped."

"So what was your secondary function?" asked Tails.

"No secondary function exists," said Gizoid.

"Well...what capabilities do you possess? We still might be able to find a use for you if you can tell us that," said Tails.

"Primary capabilities are incorporating fighting techniques and social interactions to further improve Gizoid's ability to fight and interact with others," said Gizoid.

"That's pretty cool. Why don't we go outside and you can show me a little of what you can do," said Tails.

"Negative. Gizoid has no master with the death of the Maker," said Gizoid. "New master must be registered before Gizoid will begin combat protocols."

"I'll gladly be your master Gizoid," said Tails.

"Negative. Master must prove acceptable combat skills before registration will proceed," said Gizoid.

"Why?" asked Tails.

"The Maker wanted to ensure that if the Maker was killed, Gizoid would only follow subject who could show Gizoid acceptable fighting skills," said Gizoid.

"So I have to show you how good of a fighter I am, is that it?" asked Tails.

"Affirmative," said Gizoid.

"Alright. Follow me," said Tails as he picked Nicole's physical self off the workbench and walked out of the workshop, Gizoid following him. Once they were outside, Tails set Nicole down and walked into the middle of the pathway that led towards the commons area of the village.

"I'm more of an inventor and tinkerer than a fighter, but I'll try my best," said Tails as he got into a set position. Gizoid and Nicole watched him as he closed his eyes to concentrate. A few seconds passed before Tails' eyes shot open and he began to throw several punches and kicks, then leapt next to a small tree. Setting himself again, he quickly swung his body around as he slammed his twin tails into the tree, snapping it in half as it fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"How was that?" asked Tails, looking over at Gizoid.

"Analysis indicates that subject is an inferior fighter. Punching and kicking techniques are extremely inadequate. Only acceptable technique was subject's attack with subject's tails," said Gizoid.

"Well, I did say I'm not much of a fighter..." said Tails in defeat. He then perked up. "But I know someone who should be able to show you a lot better performance. I'll take us to him." He picked Nicole back up, then motioned to Gizoid to follow him, the robot doing so.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"So that's what me and Cody thought would be best after what happened. I just hope she's in the right mind to make such a decision," said Sonic to Sally as he sat on the sofa in her hut. He had been hesitant to bring up the subject of Angel's bout earlier in the morning to Sally, but he also knew she wouldn't bother Angel about the subject at his request. She had been understanding that the subject would have to be handled extremely delicately. Sally sighed, lowering her head towards the floor from her seat in the chair across from the sofa.

"It's terrible what Angel's going thru. But if I'm to be completely honest with you, I would have to side with Cody's assumptions at this point even if you don't want to hear that from me," said Sally.

"I just don't believe she's going crazy Sal," said Sonic with a frown. "If she was, then why didn't she experience any of these problems prior to coming here?"

"We both know she took Shadow's death hard on a personal level, despite barely knowing him. After all she's been thru, it could've been the breaking point," said Sally.

"That's what Cody suggested earlier too," said Sonic with a sigh of his own as he too looked at the floor. "But Cody didn't get to know her as well as I did. I was only around her for a few weeks, but I saw in her a lot of what we all went thru in our lives with the war. Granted she wasn't on the frontlines fighting against a tyrant like we were."

"There is that difference. She lived the aftermath of her home's destruction in relative peace compared to us, oblivious to the world's distress," said Sally.

"If I'm being honest, being manipulated by Leviathan after losing everything in one night...I can see why she's been having a hard time letting go of her past. If we hadn't traveled to her timeline then one of two things would've happened."

"What would that be?" asked Sally.

"One. Leviathan might have left her on Floating Island for the rest of her life deeming it not worth his time to manipulate her further since she was guarding the Master Emerald for him, albeit unknowingly," said Sonic.

"Yet I can tell by the tone in your voice you really don't believe that, do you?" said Sally.

"I don't. I believe he'd have eventually sought her out to bind her to his will. And without me and the others intervention in her timeline, she would've been a puppet of his for the rest of her life," said Sonic.

"And she fears this outcome will still happen despite the fact she knows Leviathan is dead?" asked Sally.

"Part of me is now wondering if he truly is dead or not after last night," said Sonic.

"What do you mean?" asked Sally with a questioning glance. "You saw the remains of his corpse in Angel's timeline and you saw him blow his body apart to open a rift between our dimension and the Void in the past of our timeline. So how could he still be alive?"

"I just remember something Angel told me that Leviathan used to say to her all the time when he was training her as a kid," said Sonic.

"What would that be?" asked Sally.

"That life is a giant chessboard, filled with all sorts of moves, counter-moves, and counter-moves to counter-moves. And to always plan to counter the counter-moves against your counter-moves," said Sonic. "No...I'm starting to wonder if Leviathan was too much of a control freak that he'd be stupid enough to let something as simple as a betrayal by Angel be the end of his existence."

"That's very far out there on the likely scale Sonic," said Sally.

"But it isn't impossible," said Sonic. "Leviathan's technology was definitely ahead of our timeline's at this moment in time. The holo projection technology of that giant room Angel and the others fought against Robo Knuckles in being proof of that. I'd say it isn't impossible he preserved himself in some way. To have a way to come back from otherwise certain death."

"But even if that was the case, it would've only been in Angel's timeline that he would've returned in, wouldn't it?" asked Sally.

"Leviathan's not a fool. Given enough time and enough searching, if he didn't find Angel in her timeline, the next obvious place to look would be ours. The Time Stones exist in her world too. It would be a simple matter to travel further into the past than when he attacked you and me, then after we set the timeline on our path again, jump to the present," said Sonic.

"I think you're beginning to get as paranoid as Angel that Leviathan will return. Not only would it require Leviathan knowing how the timeline was reset back to our own, but he'd also have to restrain himself from killing her in the past before you brought her back to our present, said Sally.

"I'm not being paranoid, Sal," said Sonic with annoyance in his voice. "I'm just considering all the angles here. Even you normally have a more open mind than this." Sally blinked a few times, then looked down.

"I'm sorry I said that. I didn't know Leviathan at all. Angel is the only one out of all of us that knew him well and she confided her knowledge of him to you. I should respect her knowledge of him, not brush it aside," said Sally. Sonic sighed.

"I'm sorry too Sal. I didn't mean to make you defensive," said Sonic. He then smiled. "Perhaps I am over thinking the whole thing. You're statement of how unlikely that scenario would play out isn't without truth."

"Well, I wouldn't mention your thoughts on Leviathan actually returning to Angel. She's already off kilter enough about the subject without you adding even more thoughts of it into her head," said Sally.

"Come on Sal. You gotta give me more credit than that," said Sonic, looking hurt by the suggestion.

"You know I do," said Sally. A knock at her door drew both their attentions.

"Expecting someone?" asked Sonic.

"No..." said Sally as she got up and walked over to the door and opened it.

"Hi Sally. Someone said Sonic was here with you," said Tails as he greeted her.

"Hey big guy. What's going on?" asked Sonic as he got up and walked over to the two of them.

"I've got some good news. I finally got the Gizoid up and running," said Tails with a big smile.

"Really?" asked Sonic. He then noticed the orange and yellow robot standing at the end of the pathway leading to Sally's hut. "Why's he all the way over there?"

"Oh that. He's waiting to meet you in an open area. I said you could give him a better fighting performance than me," said Tails.

"Why does he want to see Sonic fight?" asked Sally.

"He won't do anything till he has a new master and the only way he will take a new master is if someone can show him an acceptable fighting performance," said Tails. Sonic just grinned at hearing this.

"So this thing wants to see me fight, eh? Alright, I'll give him a good show. Still, I'll need a good sparring partner to get the most out of my performance," said Sonic. Tails took a step back, holding his hands out in front of him and shaking them vigorously.

"Oh no, don't look at me to do that," said Tails nervously. Sonic just chuckled at Tails reaction.

"Nah. I wouldn't make you fight me buddy. I have the perfect candidate in mind," said Sonic. The trio then started walking up the path to the Gizoid. "So how'd you get him up and running anyways? He had you stumped last I knew."

"Well, I'm not happy about losing it, but he absorbed the fake Chaos Emerald that I made. That turned him on," said Tails with an annoyed look on his face as they walked up next to the robot.

"Hey there...uh...Gizoid," said Sonic with a frown. He then looked back at Tails. "Do we really have to call him by that name? It sounds silly to me."

"Gizoid will allow for designation of new name from new master if master wishes," answered Gizoid. Sonic looked back at the robot.

"So he can talk. Well, that'll make it a little easier to communicate with him," said Sonic. "I'm going to give you a proper fight so you can judge me without having to rely on just a solo performance, if that's okay with you?"

"Gizoid would have a better understanding of subject's fighting ability if subject were to actually fight another subject," said Gizoid.

"Then I'll be right back," said Sonic as he sped away. Watching the hedgehog vanish from view, Gizoid cocked its head to the side slightly.

"Subject hedgehog has incredible speed. Similar to enemy subject Scourge's recorded speed in databanks," said Gizoid. Sally glanced down at the robot.

"Enemy subject Scourge?" asked Sally. The name rang a bell with her. It was the name of the threat that she, Sonic, and Kirrand Moonglow had seen transcribed on the ancient echidna murals deep underground at Tikal's village. According to the murals, Scourge was a powerful evil entity that appeared after the Fall of the echidnas and nearly destroyed the world before being sealed away. And on the last mural, it was predicted that he would reappear again in just a few short years to plunge the world into darkness again.

"He said he was built to combat someone by that name in the ancient past. Nicole and I had no clue who he was talking about, but we think Gizoid is the product of the Nocturnus' lead scientist's efforts to save the planet," said Tails.

"Gizoid, what did Scourge look like? Who was he?" asked Sally. She could still recall the mural's image of him. The first mural depicted him as a mobian hedgehog child with green fur and blue eyes. The future prediction mural showed him as an adult.

"Subject Scourge's physical identity unknown. Gizoid was only given readings of subject Scourge's chaos aura to use to identify target subject," said Gizoid. He then looked back in the direction Sonic had taken off in. "Only knowledge Gizoid has of subject Scourge is that the subject's chaos aura was more powerful than the combined energy of the seven Chaos Emeralds."

"Wait a second. If that's true, then how were you supposed to fight him?" asked Tails.

"Gizoid can copy physical strengths and abilities displayed by living subjects. Subject Scourge's power would have become Gizoid's power, allowing Gizoid to combat enemy subject successfully," said Gizoid.

"That can't be true," said Tails. "No machine has the ability to copy actual strengths and abilities of living people."

"Once a new master is found, Gizoid will demonstrate Gizoid's copying ability," said Gizoid. As soon as he finished his sentence, a sonic boom sounded Sonic's return with another person.

"You're going to fight Cody?" asked Sally and Tails at the same time.

"Why not? He's a good fighter in his own regard. It'll be a good sparring session," said Sonic with a smile.

"So what happens if I actually try hard enough to beat you?" asked Cody with a grin. "Be kinda embarrassing if the little robot became mine instead of yours, wouldn't it?"

"As if you'd beat me," said Sonic with his own grin.

"Alright. If you're so confident, then let's actually try to beat each other. Truth be told I've been wanting to fight you one on one just to see how I'd stack against you," said Cody.

"Seriously?" asked Sonic, now looking rather surprised by Cody's statement.

"Of course. You've won every fight you've ever been in as far as I know. I'd like to see how I match up against someone with that kind of record," said Cody. Sonic turned to fully face him, a smirk forming on his muzzle.

"Okay. If you really want me to go all out to test yourself, I'm fine with that. Let's give Gizoid here a good show," said Sonic as he held his hand out towards Cody. The robian grasped it and gave it shake.

"I'll be sure to give him a show to remember," said Cody. The two then turned from each other and walked twenty paces away before turning back around. Sonic got set into a fighting position, as did Cody.

"So which one of us should lead this little bout off?" asked Sonic.

"I'll give you the honors," said Cody. Sonic gave a nod, then shot from his spot towards Cody who stood his ground. Sonic threw a punch at Cody as soon as he reached him. But Cody spun out of the way and swung around with right fist. He solidly connected with Sonic's head and knocked him several yards away and to the ground.

"I dare say you made that easy on purpose," said Cody as Sonic quickly got to his feet. A smile was on Sonic's face as he stood back up.

"Little obvious wasn't it?" asked Sonic.

"Just a bit," said Cody, returning the smile. "You weren't moving your fastest. Not even close."

"Guilty," said Sonic as he retook his stance, Cody following. "This time I'll actually try to hit you."

"Please do. This fight means nothing if you aren't fighting your hardest. I want to see you at your best," said Cody.

"Don't cash checks your butt can't write Cody," said Sonic.

"My 'butt' has enough funds I think," said Cody. A few seconds passed by before Sonic shot from his spot, this time setting off a sonic boom as he instantly closed the gap between the two. Unlike last time, Cody didn't have the time to react to him as Sonic punched him square in the face, sending the robian falling to his back. Sonic zipped back to his spot, then crossed his arms over his chest with a grin.

"That was me moving my fastest. Suffice it to say if you couldn't see me coming in time to block or dodge that, you won't win this fight Cody," said Sonic. Cody just chuckled as he rose to his feet.

"Not bad at all. True, I couldn't react fast enough that time. Your speed is legendary, after all. Doesn't mean I can't get around it," said Cody.

"Heh. Reminds me of something I said to Eggman a few months back when I was fighting a rebuilt Silver Sonic. So let's see you do so," said Sonic. Without warning, Cody shot high into the air using his thrusters. Realigning himself with Sonic, he dove at him at nearly supersonic speed.

Sonic watched as Cody quickly closed the gap between them. But there was something he instantly realized as he watched Cody's attack run at him. The robian was going to attack him with a punch from his left arm. It was slightly pulled back, his body twisted slightly to the left in a position that clearly gave away what his intent was.

As soon as Cody had closed the gap, Sonic leapt to the right to avoid the punch. But to Sonic's surprise, Cody instead whipped his body around and caught him in the side with a swift kick from his right leg. Sprawling to the ground, Sonic was quick on the rebound as he flipped back onto his feet just in time to see Cody return to his starting position high in the air.

"Not so easy to read me, is it?" asked Cody as he crossed his arms over his chest, a smile plastered on his face as he hovered above the others.

"You definitely fooled me that time. But that trick will only work once," said Sonic. He then reset his position.

"I beg to differ," said Cody. "But we shall see if you can read me this time." He then dropped at Sonic again, this time giving the impression he would throw a right punch. Sonic braced himself as Cody dove at him. But instead of dodging this time, Sonic leapt right at Cody once he was most of the way to him.

Cody's grin instantly switched to one of surprise as Sonic instantly closed the gap between them. The cerulean hedgehog then performed a back flip, catching Cody square in his muzzle with a powerful kick. Cody flew back and landed hard on the ground as Sonic landed and reset his position. Cody slowly got to his knees, rubbing his muzzle with a sneer on his face.

"Like I'd try to dodge you when I can't read you properly. It would only have the same results as last time I tried. So the best way to counter your trickery is just to attack you before you attack me," said Sonic as Cody rose to his feet.

"Smart...I'll have to give you more credit than I used to. I didn't think you could adapt to a strategy you hadn't seen before that fast," said Cody. As the two began to stand off again, Tails turned to Gizoid.

"So who's the better fighter in your opinion at this point?" asked Tails.

"Gizoid thinks both are acceptable fighters. Subject Cody has superior strength and ability to fly. However, subject Sonic is faster and can adapt instantly to fighting situations," said Gizoid.

"I'm still not sure of this whole thing. Sure they're just trading jabs right now, but if they get serious enough if could be trouble," said Sally.

"Oh I'm sure they won't hurt one another. They're just testing themselves, that's all," said Tails. Cody suddenly shot from his spot with his thrusters, flying right up into Sonic's face as he began to rapidly launch punches and kicks. Sonic expertly dodged each one by a hair as Cody slowly pushed him back. Suddenly the sound of metal sliding against metal filled the air as Cody extended his claws and began to rapidly slash at Sonic with them.

"Hey Cody...isn't this...going...a little...too far...?" asked Sonic as he kept dodging Cody's slashes.

"I said I wanted your best and I'm giving you mine! Now fight me or surrender!" cried Cody. Sonic frowned in response as he dodged another swing of Cody's claws, then leapt high into the air, Cody's gaze following. Sonic suddenly curled into a spindash, hovering in mid air as his body began to absorb the surrounding chaos energy in the air. Uncurling from the spindash, Sonic fell to the ground with his body glowing with blue energy. Cody reset his stance, keeping his claws extended at the ready.

"You want my best, I'll give you my best Cody. Just don't forget you asked for it," said Sonic. He then shot from his spot, setting off a sonic boom as the chaos energy he gathered allowed him to break Mach 2 speeds. Cody had no time to react as Sonic started throwing dozens of punches and kicks that Cody tried to block to no avail. With a final roundhouse kick, Sonic sent Cody flying onto his back to come to a rest on the ground.

"By the heavens of Mobius, Sonic! You didn't have to use your Light Speed Attack on him!" cried Sally as she ran over to Cody. The robian slowly set back up as Sally helped him get into a seated position.

"Well, he wanted me to go all out," said Sonic with a frown.

"Are you alright Cody?" asked Sally. Cody just groaned, retracting his claws as he put a hand up to his head.

"I'm fine...He just knocked my stabilizers off balance, that's all. Give me a second to reset them," said Cody.

"Hey sorry man..." said Sonic as he walked over to Cody, offering him a hand up. "Sal's right...I shouldn't have done that."

"No no. I asked you to go all out and you did just that," said Cody as he accepted Sonic's hand, getting pulled to his feet. A smirk crossed his face as he shook his head. "I was a fool to challenge you to an all out fight. But nonetheless it was a learning experience that I'll take to heart should I ever have the inclination to challenge you again."

"Well, that was definitely more intense than I though it'd be," said Tails.

"Gizoid agrees. Subject Sonic is an excellent fighter with unique abilities," said Gizoid. He then walked over towards Sonic, coming to a stop in front of him. Everyone looked over at him as Gizoid lowered to one knee and bowed his head. "Gizoid would be honored to have subject Sonic be Gizoid's new master."

"So I performed to an acceptable level for your standards, eh?" asked Sonic with a smile.

"Subject Sonic performed above and beyond the Maker's required fighting capabilities to become Gizoid's new master," said Gizoid. "Will subject Sonic allow Gizoid to become his servant?" Hearing that brought a frown to Sonic's face.

"Sure, but there's going to be a few guidelines I'm gonna have to set right from the start," said Sonic.

"Gizoid will obey any order master wishes," said Gizoid.

"First rule, don't call me 'master'. Call me Sonic. And don't treat me like a master. You're not going to be a servant to me," said Sonic. Gizoid looked up at him, then cocked his head to the left slightly.

"Gizoid is confused. Master is master. Not being a servant is a contradiction," said Gizoid.

"That's because we're going to treat each other as if we were friends, not master or servant," said Sonic. "Everyone else here will treat you as a friend as well."

"Quandary. Gizoid does not know how to treat someone as a 'friend'," said Gizoid. Sonic rubbed his chin in thought at that statement.

"I think he can learn how to be a friend," said Tails, drawing the others attention to him. "He told me he can learn from interactions with people to grow on a social level. I think we just have to take him around the village and show him how to act towards people and he'll learn on his own." Sonic looked back down at Gizoid.

"Is Tails right? Can you learn from watching how other people treat each other?" asked Sonic. Gizoid nodded.

"Analyzing social interactions will allow Gizoid to copy verbal and physical exchanges in order to become more adept at social interactions," said Gizoid.

"That's good. We can show you how to act just by taking you with us around the village," said Sonic. "And that leads me to my second guideline. I'm renaming you."

"Gizoid will respond to whatever name subject Sonic wishes Gizoid to be called by," said Gizoid.

"What do you want to name him?" asked Sally.

"I've had some time to think about it. And after Tails told us that he was brought to life by his fake Chaos Emerald, I think I have a good name for him," said Sonic.

"And that would be what?" asked Cody with a questioning gaze.

"Emerl," said Sonic.

"That's not what I would've expected," said Cody.

"Me either for that matter," said Sally.

"I think it fits him just fine. Gizoid, your new name is Emerl," said Sonic to the robot.

"Gizoid's name is now Emerl. New name registration complete," said Emerl.

"Now then, first thing we need to do is see what you're capable of. You said earlier that you can copy people's abilities by watching them. Did you copy anything from our fight just now?" asked Sonic.

"Yes. Emerl copied subject Sonic's fighting techniques and abilities displayed," said Emerl.

"Give us a show then," said Sonic. Emerl nodded, then walked out into the clearing away from them, coming to a stop. Without warning, Emerl suddenly curled into a perfect copy of Sonic's spindash, gathering chaos energy from the air around him. Everyone watched with jaws wide open as Emerl uncurled, his body glowing with blue energy. He then shot from his spot, breaking the sound barrier as he crossed the clearing in the blink of an eye.

"No way!" cried both Sonic and Tails at the same time.

"I guess he wasn't lying when he said he could copy abilities," said Sally.

"Emerl recalls this ability was called a 'Light Speed Attack'," said Emerl as he began walking back towards them. "An interesting ability. It induces a significant increase in power and speed, if only for an extremely limited time."

"Anything else?" asked Sonic, not sure he wanted to see anything else after that display.

"Yes. Emerl can now move at the same speed as subject Sonic can," said Emerl. Sonic frowned at him.

"I doubt that. No one's as fast as me," said Sonic. Then an afterthought hit him. "Well...I suppose Shadow was, despite me not wanting to really admit it."

"Emerl must beg to differ," said Emerl.

"Fine. Let's race from here to the far side of the forest. First one to get a flower from the Great Meadow and bring it back here wins," said Sonic. Both of them got into set positions.

"On my mark," said Sonic. "Three...Two...One...Go!" Both of them shot off at the same time, both of them breaking the sound barrier as they vanished from view.

"I don't believe what I just saw," said Tails as the dust settled from their departure.

"Neither do I Tails. Emerl has to be the most highly advanced robot to have ever existed on this planet if he can copy a person's natural abilities so flawlessly," said Sally.

"I agree. That Gizoid is a remarkable machine. He would be very interesting to study I imagine," said Cody. Nearly a minute passed before another round of sonic booms sounded Sonic and Emerl's return as both of them arrived at the same moment, each one holding a flower in their hand.

"Okay...I'm now officially speechless," said Sonic as he stared wide eyed at Emerl.

"I can see now why he was considered by the Maker to be a machine capable of fighting whoever that Scourge person was," said Tails.

"Wait a minute? He was built to fight Scourge?" asked Sonic. Tails narrowed his eyes at the comment.

"Yeah...That's what he said. Do you know who he's talking about?" asked Tails. Sonic shook his head.

"No...I don't know who Scourge is," said Sonic, instantly realizing he had made a comment that only someone who had an idea who Scourge was would have asked. Tails stared at him a few more seconds, then lessened his gaze and shrugged.

"Well, I don't either. All we know about the guy is that he was a big threat to the world in the ancient past and Emerl was built to fight him but never did," said Tails.

"I see. Well, whoever Scourge was, he must've been defeated a long time ago cause I've never heard of him before," said Sonic, hoping Tails wasn't going to push the discussion further. He and Sally had decided it was best to keep their knowledge of the prophecy of Scourge's return to themselves after learning about it, if only to keep others from worrying about it.

"That's what me and Nicole think too," said Tails.

"Anyways, I think we should take Emerl around the village so he can learn his social interactions," said Sonic. He then looked over at Emerl. "I think your first lesson should be to quit referring to people as 'subject so-and-so' and to just call them by their name. And refer to yourself in the first person, not the third person when talking about yourself."

"Very well," said Emerl.

"Alright, let's head back into the village," said Sonic as the group started back towards the commons.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Hey Angel! Tails said you were out this direction! Can you hear me?" hollered Sonic's voice. Angel looked up towards the direction his voice had come from. She was still sitting in the same tree with Comet as the time was nearing eight in the evening. The sun was just starting its descent in the west, leaving the sky a bright orange.

The last several hours she had been quietly contemplating the last couple of days events while her chao sat faithfully by her side. Her small companion had kept quiet so as not to disturb her thoughts, but just being there was keeping the echidna's mind much more at ease than if she hadn't been there.

"You're hesitant to answer him, am I right?" asked Comet, breaking her silence as she looked up at Angel. Angel glanced down at her, her face reflecting the very thing Comet had just asked.

"Is it that obvious?" asked Angel. The last several hours had been spent in deep thought about possibly leaving Knothole and never returning. She would essentially cut all ties with Sonic and his friends and set out into the world with no one but herself and a clean slate.

But the more she had dwelled on it, the more she knew she would ultimately regret that decision. Sonic and his friends were the only people she really knew outside of her village in the south. And after returning there and realizing her place wasn't amongst her people, she had set out into the world to find a place she felt like she supposed to belong.

She had searched for months in the southern continent to find such a place. But while she had made several friends with the humans and mobians who lived in the south, she never felt like she belonged in the places she had stopped at during her travels.

Right now, despite what all had transpired since arriving in Knothole, she felt more at home here than she had anywhere else previously during her travels. After thinking about why that was the case, she had come to a realization she had been hoping wasn't the real reason. And yet it was.

It was because of Sonic. Out of all the people she had met since the destruction of her home in her timeline, no one aside from Comet had ever cared about her wellbeing as much as he did. She had known now for a while that he cared for her deeply as a friend. Pretty much ever since she had bared her soul to him in her timeline. Now she was afraid of where her own feelings on the subject were taking her.

"Angel!" she heard as he called out to her again. She gave a soft sigh as she closed her eyes. Her brain was telling her to just leave Knothole for now and come back when her mental state was in a better place. Yet her heart wouldn't let her. Standing up on the tree limb, she turned her head in the direction Sonic's voice had come from.

"I'm over here Sonic!" she called out. Less than five seconds later Sonic zipped up to the bottom of the tree.

"There you are. I've been worried. Alabaster said you didn't come get any meals today at the community hut," said Sonic. Angel just smiled.

"Guilty I suppose. I've been here the whole day with Comet," said Angel.

"I guess this morning's wake up call freaked you out even worse than I thought, if that's possible to believe," said Sonic. He then motioned for her to come down. "Come down and follow me. The two of us need to talk."

"What about?" asked Angel.

"What to do at this point with your issues," said Sonic. Angel looked upset by that remark. Was Sonic at the point he was getting fed up with her problems? Realizing though she had to hear him out, she reluctantly jumped out of the tree and landed next to him, Comet flying down to land on her shoulder.

"Hey Comet. Would it be alright if you go and stay with Sally for the rest of the evening? I want to talk to Angel one on one," said Sonic. Comet looked a little surprised by the statement, then nodded her head slowly.

"Yes...I can do that," said Comet. She then flew off Angel's shoulder and headed towards Knothole. Stopping about twenty yards away, she looked back at the two of them. "You're not going to do anything rash are you?"

"Not at all Comet. I just wanted to talk with Angel in private. If we need to include you or anyone else I won't hesitate to come get you," said Sonic with a smile.

"Very well. I'll see you in the morning mistress," said Comet as she flew off into the woods.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" asked Angel. Sonic just shook his head.

"Not here. Let's go back to my hut. Right now I'm too worried about someone listening in on us," said Sonic. Angel looked curious about why he had said that, but choose not to question it as the two headed back towards Knothole. As the duo walked back into the commons, Emerl was there to greet them both.

"So you found her?" asked Emerl as they reached him.

"Yeah. Not surprised she was up in a tree to be honest. She always liked to do her deep thinking there in the short time I've known her," said Sonic with a smile.

"Sorry to make you worry about me," said Angel.

"It's alright," said Sonic with a smile. "I'm sure you had a lot on your mind after this morning. Can't say I blame you for being absent all day long."

"Thanks for understanding," said Angel with a small smile. She then motioned at Emerl. "So who is this?"

"That's right, you two haven't met yet. Angel, meet Emerl. The newest addition to our family here in Knothole," said Sonic.

"A pleasure," said Angel with a nod at the robot.

"The pleasure is all mine," said Emerl with a nod back at her.

"Polite little thing. Isn't he supposed to be a combat robot?" asked Angel, looking over at Sonic as the trio started back towards Sonic's hut.

"He is. He's just been getting social lessons all day. I'd say he's vastly improved in that area in such a short time," said Sonic.

"Thanks for the compliment," said Emerl. "Now then, for the situation at hand. I know Sonic wanted to talk to you in private, so I'm going to be standing guard outside so no one bothers you two."

"Do you really think that's necessary?" asked Angel, looking over at Sonic. He just frowned in response.

"After everything that's been going on, I'll feel better knowing someone that for sure isn't the cause of the problems is watching over us while we talk," said Sonic.

"That actually makes me feel a little better as well," said Angel as they arrived at Sonic's hut. Both mobians entered while Emerl stayed outside. Closing the door behind them, the two walked over and sat down on the couch.

"So how are you holding up?" asked Sonic.

"Better than this morning I think," said Angel, looking down at the floor. "I've had time to kind of sort out my feelings about what's been happening since I got here."

"And?" asked Sonic.

"I'm...conflicted at the moment," said Angel.

"How so?" asked Sonic. Angel hesitated here.

"Well...how should I put this?" asked Angel, more so to herself than to Sonic.

"You're struggling whether or not to leave, aren't you?" asked Sonic. Angel looked up at him in surprise. He just smiled in response. "I'll take that as a yes." Angel sighed before looking back down again.

"That pretty much sums it up I suppose," said Angel.

"Can't say I blame you for that after everything that's happened," said Sonic.

"It's not just what's been happening. I've had...other realizations about my thoughts on staying or leaving," said Angel as she looked back up at him. Sonic cocked an eyebrow in response to that.

"What do you mean?" asked Sonic.

"I'd rather not say if you don't mind," said Angel, looking away from his gaze.

"Not at all," said Sonic. "We all have our reasons for staying or leaving a place we are unsure of staying at the moment. I'm not gonna question you on what those reasons are. That's not a nice thing to do."

"Thank you," said Angel.

"But the staying and leaving thing does bring me to the point of why I asked to talk with you," said Sonic. He sighed, then closed his eyes and lowered his head. "You should know I think of you as one of my closest friends, despite the fact we haven't been friends for long."

"I've felt the same ever since our ordeal in my timeline," said Angel.

"Which is why I hate what's been going on since you got here. Cody thinks you've flipped your lid as he voiced last night and again to me after what happened this morning," said Sonic.

"I've been wondering about that myself a lot since this morning too," said Angel. "Everything points to me losing my mind. In all honesty, I can't find a sensible answer other than that."

"You shouldn't believe that," said Sonic. "I for one don't." Angel looked back at him with confusion on her face.

"How could you not? I freaked out last night thinking I saw Leviathan when I really didn't. Now all that writing on the walls of my bedroom. Other than you and now Comet today, I haven't told anyone about those fears. And I know you wouldn't have done that," said Angel.

"And even so I still say someone is messing with you," said Sonic.

"How can you?" asked Angel.

"Because my gut tells me so. And it's rarely wrong," said Sonic.

"But Cody was guarding my hut all night. There's no other explanation other than I did all that writing," said Angel.

"I have my reasons for not believing it was you," said Sonic. "Still...Cody pointed something out to me that has had me thinking all day."

"What's that?" asked Angel.

"He pointed out that regardless of if you truly are going insane or it's someone messing with you, I'm powerless to protect you while your here," said Sonic.

"Knowing what I know of you, that has to be really eating at you," said Angel with a look of concern.

"It really is. And as much as it goes against my better judgment to do so, I honestly can think of only one way to spare you all of this torment if it is someone in the village doing it," said Sonic.

"And that would be what?" asked Angel.

"That you leave Knothole," said Sonic. Angel looked shocked by his request. "Don't get me wrong Angel. I love having you here with us, but I don't want it to be at your expense if someone is dead set on messing with your head the entire time."

"Well...I suppose there's no way around it, is there?" she asked.

"I'm sorry Angel. Believe me, if I thought there was some way to protect you while you were here, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But I can't. And I can't stand to see you being tormented like this," said Sonic.

"So what happens if this continues after I'm gone?" asked Angel.

"Well, that would answer my question of whether or not someone is messing with you. I'll check in with you every couple of days for a while to see how you're doing," said Sonic.

"I see...So if nothing is happening with me after I leave, we know it was someone in the village," said Angel.

"And if things are still happening, we'll know Cody was right. And then I'd suggest coming back here so we can keep an eye on you," said Sonic.

"That's actually very clever. So we'll know for sure one way or another by me leaving," said Angel.

"Exactly," said Sonic. "I was originally going to give you the choice on the matter, but this way we'll know what's going on for sure."

"So I guess that leaves us with just the question of when I should leave, doesn't it?" said Angel.

"Well, promise me you'll at least wait till tomorrow morning. I don't feel comfortable with you traveling at night. Besides, I'm sure everyone will want to see you off tomorrow," said Sonic.

"I can promise that," said Angel.

"Good. Now since I seriously doubt you want to go back to the hut we set you up in, I decided you'll spend the night in my hut. You can have the bed. I'm not adverse to sleeping on the couch," said Sonic.

"Oh no. I don't want to impose," said Angel.

"I insist," said Sonic. Angel sighed, then smiled slightly.

"Sometimes you're too nice for your own good, you know that?" said Angel. Sonic just smiled back in response.

"I've heard that a time or two in my day," said Sonic.

"Well, I'm going to go retrieve my sword from the other hut. I'll feel safer if it's in the same hut with me," said Angel.

"Not a problem. I'll go there, get it, and be back in a flash. You just find something in the kitchen to eat since you basically skipped all your meals today," said Sonic. With that he got up and walked over to the door, opening it to see Emerl still standing guard outside while Angel walked into the kitchen.

"Hey Emerl. Did anyone come by while we were talking?" asked Sonic.

"No one at all," said Emerl.

"Good. Go ahead and go back inside. I'll be back in a minute," said Sonic. He then took off kicking up a cloud of dust in his wake.

* * *

The hour was nearing 1 o'clock in the morning. Sonic lay sprawled out on his couch asleep as Emerl sat deactivated in the chair next to him. A slight creaking noise sounded from the bedroom as Angel slowly opened the door, looking out into the living room. She was dressed in her usual clothes, her sword strapped to her back in its scabbard.

She had been hesitant to leave this early, but she knew it was for the best in her mind. And she knew she wouldn't be breaking her promise to Sonic cause it was technically "tomorrow morning". It would cause her a lot of pain to have to say goodbye to everyone she had befriended here in the morning. Right now, she didn't want to deal with that because she was dealing with enough emotional pain already.

Seeing that Sonic was asleep, she walked out into the room and slowly walked up to him. She gazed down at him, conflicting thoughts going thru her mind. Ever since she had been sitting in the tree earlier in the day, she had come to discover that Sonic meant more to her than she had realized. Now, looking down at his sleeping form, she knew she couldn't deny her feelings anymore. She then knelt down next to him, her eyes locked with his closed eyes.

"You were the first person I befriended ever since my home was destroyed. Little did I know at the time that what I thought was mere friendship...would grow into something more," whispered Angel.

"And yet...I know it can't be more..." she whispered to the air as she closed her eyes. "Maybe in another world...another time perhaps. But you have your life and I know you love Sally with all your heart. And as much as I may have feelings for you, I know they would never be reciprocated."

"So I'll keep them to myself. It hurts me, but I've endured painful emotional feelings before. This will be no different," whispered Angel. "Still...there's one last thing I have to do or else I'll regret it later." She then slowly leaned in and kissed Sonic softly on his lips for a few seconds, then broke away with tears starting to appear in her eyes.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me," she whispered. She then stood up and walked softly over to the front door, opening it carefully. Glancing over her shoulder one last time at the blue hedgehog, she walked out the door and closed it silently behind her. As soon as she was a few steps away from the door, she broke into a run towards the western side of the village as tears flowed down her cheeks. Little did she know someone had watched her leave.

She continued to run past the various huts in the village, past the last unnatural pathway and into the woods. She continued to run for nearly fifteen minutes, finally coming to a stop as she reached a clearing at the edge of the forest. Lowering to her knees, she panted as she wiped the last of the tears from her eyes. She had gotten her crying under control a few minutes ago, but hadn't stopped running to wipe her eyes. Taking a minute to get her breathing back under control, she slowly rose back to her feet.

"So where are you going at this hour?" asked an all too familiar deep male voice from behind her. Freezing in place, Angel slowly turned around to see Leviathan standing on the other side of the clearing. But instead of fear gripping her like last time, she turned around to face him with a fearless look in her eyes.

"My my. You've certainly grown a backbone since yesterday. Last time you saw me you ran for the hills," said Leviathan.

"You aren't really there. This is all some sort of trick, either by someone's design or just in my head," said Angel. Leviathan just chuckled as he slowly walked towards her.

"You're so sure of that statement, aren't you?" asked Leviathan as he approached her. "I'll have you know I've been following you since you left Sonic's hut. You seemed awfully distressed when you left." Angel just huffed in response.

"I'm not having a conversation with a figment of my imagination," she said, turning her back to him as the robotic raptor walked up behind her. She then started walking away from him when she was suddenly pulled off the ground by the back of her shirt. Being turned around to face Leviathan, the raptor just smiled as he held her by his clawed hand.

"Still think I'm just an illusion?" he asked before tossing her away from him and to the ground. Angel quickly flipped back onto her feet and drew her sword from its scabbard.

"Alright. You have my attention now," said Angel as she got into a defensive stance.

"Well well. I'm impressed. You know I'm not a fake now and you're still not running away like last time," said Leviathan.

"I realized I can't be afraid of you. I'm only hurting myself by not facing my fears about you," said Angel.

"I find that interesting considering I know you truly do fear me. After all, we had an agreement that we made to one another a decade ago. You do remember our promises to one another, don't you?" asked Leviathan. He noticed Angel stiffen slightly at hearing that.

"As I suspected, you haven't forgotten your promise to me," said Leviathan. "But I'll tell you what. I once gave you a chance to denounce that promise. I'll be kind and give that chance to you again. Go ahead. Throw away your promise and attack me." Angel glared back at him with a look that could kill. Seconds ticked by, but just as before in her timeline, she knew she couldn't go back on her promise. To do so would forsake her honor and that of her whole family. It was all she had left of her old life.

"As I thought," said Leviathan with a grin. "Your honor still prevents you from doing it." He watched as Angel slowly lowered her stance as she lowered her head, Leviathan's grin just getting wider.

"Oh how I've longed to see you suffer like I am now. You know your fate is bound to me again and seeing you unable to fight it is delectable," said Leviathan. "But still, I want an answer to a question that has been eating at me for a good while now."

"And what would that be?" asked Angel, looking up at him.

"Why did you break your promise to me in your timeline? I know you well enough to know that you would never break your promises, not even one to me. Yet you attacked me which ultimately led to my defeat. Why did you break your promise to me then?" asked Leviathan. Angel just smirked in response.

"It's your own fault. You should've known I would look for any chance for you to screw up so I could get around my promise to you," said Angel. Leviathan just frowned at the statement.

"Screw up how?" he asked.

"You ordered me to 'keep the promise I made'," said Angel.

"I remember, what's your point?" asked Leviathan.

"I made a promise to Sonic the night before that I would stand by his side till the whole ordeal we were in was over. By not specifying which promise to keep, I chose to keep my promise to Sonic which allowed me to attack you and free him," said Angel. Leviathan just laughed loudly when he heard that for several seconds.

"Oh that is very clever of you my dear. I had been wondering for months now why you turned on me and it was over something as simple as that. I really had been thinking too hard on the issue. I thought it was something much more complex than that," said Leviathan. "Still, the ordeal in your timeline is over. Your promise to Sonic is now void, which means your promise to me is now back in play."

"As much as I'd like to say it isn't, that is the case," said Angel with as much disgust as she could put in her voice.

"Well, as much fun as it would be just to take off into the night with you as my pawn again, leaving everyone back in Knothole none the wiser to your fate, it just isn't feasible at the moment," said Leviathan.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Angel.

"Meaning that you are worthless to me," said Leviathan. "However, I'd rather not kill you in cold blood. No...that wouldn't satisfy my hatred of you in the least."

"Well, I can't fight you with my promise to you intact," said Angel.

"Yes you can. It's as simple as this. I order you to try to kill me to the best of your ability," said Leviathan. Angel stared at him with a look of stunned silence. Leviathan just grinned in response. "You didn't expect me to say that, did you?"

"No I certainly didn't," said Angel, retaking her stance. "But you know you just sealed your fate with that order."

"I highly doubt that. I taught you how to fight. And I've taken into account how much you've grown in strength since then. I can guarantee you won't win," said Leviathan.

"You're overconfidence that your in control will be your undoing, just like it was in my timeline," said Angel.

"Then come at me and prove me wrong," taunted Leviathan. Angel just gripped her sword tighter before leaping at him. She then gave a solid swing at his body as the raptor merely jumped back in response, causing the blow to go wide. Going on the offensive, Angel rapidly swung her sword at Leviathan, forcing him back as he continued to dodge each blow with relative ease.

"Not so easy to read me, is it?" asked Leviathan as he dodged another swipe, leaping to the left to not get backed up against a tree that was right behind him.

"Shut up!" yelled Angel in anger as she followed after him, continuing to remain on the offensive without letting up any steam. And yet Leviathan always seemed one step ahead of her assault.

"Come on Angel. I know you can do better than this," taunted Leviathan as he stopped falling back and instead whipped his body around at Angel. The echidna dodged the swing from his barbed tail as she back flipped away from the strike. Resetting her stance, she glared at Leviathan who reset his own stance.

"So why aren't you trying to hurt me?" asked Angel. She knew the robotic raptor was much faster than the measly attack he had just performed. The question was why was he holding back.

"Because I don't want this to end too quickly. I want you to slowly realize that despite trying your hardest, you simply won't defeat me. When that realization sinks in, you'll lose your will to fight. Seeing you broken like that is too good of an opportunity for me to pass up " said Leviathan.

"You're wrong. I won't stop fighting till one of us is dead," said Angel.

"Bold words. Let's see if you can hold true to them," said Leviathan as he charged her. Angel just stood her ground till he was right on top of her, the raptor lunging at her with his jaws. Angel quickly spun out of the way, swinging her sword around at the same time at Leviathan's head. But before the blow could land, Leviathan threw his right arm up and blocked the blow. The sound of metal scraping on metal echoed through the night.

"Close little one," said Leviathan as he brushed the blade aside. "Sorry to say I am just faster than you." Angel leapt back to reset her stance, but mid leap Leviathan turned and charged her, arriving at her landing spot just as she hit. The raptor body slammed her, knocking her several yards back and to the ground, her sword getting jarred from her hands as she fell to the ground.

"I've changed my mind," said Leviathan as he walked towards Angel as she slowly got into a seated position. "I think killing you right now would be more satisfying." Angel glanced over as where her sword lay just a couple of feet away from her reach. She knew she wouldn't have a chance to get it before Leviathan was on top of her since he was only a few yards away himself.

"Game over Angel Starfire!" cried Leviathan as he leapt high into the air, aiming to land on her and crush her under his weight. Angel's eyes went wide as soon as he started his jump, realizing Leviathan had just left himself wide open to a counter attack. Quickly moving across the ground to her sword, she scooped it up and flipped onto her feet. She then leapt as hard as she could to the left away from Leviathan's landing point.

"Game over yourself you monster!" cried Angel as Leviathan landed on nothing but ground, instantly looking up at the echidna with his own eyes wide. Angel then threw her sword for all she was worth at point blank range right at Leviathan's head. At such close range, Leviathan didn't have time to get out of the way.

But to Angel's amazement, the spinning blade passed right thru his head, lodging in a tree several yards to Leviathan's right with a thunk sound. Leviathan just grinned as he charged her. Angel instantly realized she'd just put herself in the same position Leviathan had mere moments earlier now that her attack had failed.

The raptor leapt up at her, teeth bared to take a bite from her. Angel closed her eyes tight, realizing she wouldn't get out of this mess. But instead of the feeling of several sharp points digging into her flesh, she instead felt a powerful blow like a punch or kick strike her in the face as she fell to the ground. All she could hear before the darkness of unconsciousness enveloped her was the distinct sound of Leviathan's laughter.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The sun's rays began to flow thru the treetops of Knothole Village as Sonic walked into the commons. His face gave away the fact that he was a little depressed. Having awoken to find Angel gone, he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised. Angel technically kept her word more than likely and had left very early that morning. Still, he had wanted to see her off.

"What's wrong?" asked Sally as she and Nicole walked up along side Sonic.

"Angel left last night. Didn't even say goodbye," said Sonic softly.

"I see," said Sally.

"I can't say I'm surprised. She probably didn't think she could handle saying goodbye to everyone in the morning, especially Comet," said Sonic. They then noticed Myr was running at them at a speed that was much faster than any they had seen the little guy run.

"Myr!" cried the little cobalt robot as it ran up to the three of them. It started jumping up and down frantically, repeatedly saying its name at them.

"What's got Myr so worked up?" asked Sonic, looking over at Sally.

"I haven't a clue," said Sally.

"Sorry little guy. I'll play with you a little later on, okay?" said Sonic as he knelt down and patted the robot on the head. Myr just screamed it's name at them in response then turned around and pointed towards the west.

"I think it wants you to go that direction for some reason," said Nicole, looking towards the west.

"Weird. Why would it want to specifically go that direction?" asked Sonic. Myr just jumped up and down a few times, then looked straight at Nicole. A second later, the lynx jerked sharply before looking down at Myr in anger.

"Hey you little scrap bot! Get out of my AI matrix! How are you even able...to..." said Nicole, trailing off as her mouth suddenly gaped open. She turned to Sonic with a distressed look. "Sonic!"

* * *

The sound of chirping birds filled Angel's ears as she slowly blinked her eyes as she started to wake up in the clearing from last night. She slowly sat up, holding a hand up to her aching head as she closed her eyes tight in pain.

"About time you woke up," said a voice off to her side. Recognizing the voice, she looked over to see Cody standing with his arms crossed over his chest, an angry look on his face.

"Cody...Where did you come from? Did you save me?" asked Angel as she rose to her feet.

"Hardly. I found you like this. You've got a lot of explaining to do. And even then, I doubt it will make a difference you murderer," said Cody. Angel's confusion was evident on her face. Cody merely pointed towards another part of the clearing. Looking over, Angel felt her heart sink as she spotted the reason Cody had called her that.

Hung up by her sword in the same tree that her sword had embedded in last night was none other than a male robian. She instantly recognized him. A skunk she had conversed with a few times when she had first come back to Knothole. His name was Conner and he had been quite intrigued by the echidna, spending the few meals she had eaten in the community hut with her talking about trivial things. His head now sported a hole right in the middle of his face compliments of the blade.

"No! I-I didn't do that!" cried Angel as she dropped to her knees. "I swear I was fighting Leviathan last night! Conner wasn't even here!"

"Again with the whole Leviathan thing," said Cody as he walked over to her and picked her up by her shirt. "You'll pay for what you did. Sonic can't deny that you've gone nuts now." Angel didn't fight back as tears appeared in her eyes. She knew she had snapped. She had killed Conner thinking it was Leviathan. That was the only explanation that made sense. He probably had seen her leave and had followed her out there.

"So what happens now?" asked Angel softly. But as Cody held her up by her shirt, she noticed something about the robian she hadn't before. A slight gash was in the armor of his right arm. It was then she recalled something about the fight from that night. The sound of her sword hitting Leviathan's right arm had sounded like metal on metal. But Leviathan's arms were covered in the synthetic flesh that encompassed a good deal of his body. It was at that point the truth hit her.

"You!" shouted Angel with rage in her voice, throwing a punch that caught Cody square in the face, knocking him back and causing him to lose his grip on her. "This whole time it was you!"

Cody held up a hand to his face, a smile on his face. The smile instantly turned into soft chuckling, then quickly escalated into a good laugh. But as the laugh gained momentum, its pitch changed from Cody's normal vocal range to a much different one. One that Angel recognized all too well.

"So you finally figured it out, did you?" asked Cody. Only it wasn't Cody's voice that he was using. Instead, he was talking with Leviathan's voice. Angel stared at Cody with a questioning look, wondering if her mind was still playing tricks on her or not.

"What the hell is going on?" asked Angel.

"I suppose I can tell you now, seeing as you'll be dead soon anyways. After all, I have an alibi to keep," said Leviathan. He then crossed his arms over his chest with a smile on his face. "Cody isn't the one in charge of this body right now. I am."

"How? How did you get into his body? Cody was never once near you in my timeline or the past," said Angel.

"Taking over this body was both unfortunate and fortunate at the same time," said Leviathan. "You see, I always had a backup plan to survive if my body was ever destroyed in your world. I infected my base's mainframe with a highly advanced computer virus. The virus contained my entire AI matrix's memories. Everything that I experienced in your world, the virus recorded it."

"So you infected Cody with this virus? But how?" asked Angel.

"Truthfully, Cody wasn't the intended target of the virus. My target of choice was that little AI Nicole. Her ability to wirelessly connect with computers would've been invaluable to me. If my virus had infected her, I could've easily spread it to every computer system on the planet, reasserting my control over it almost instantly," said Leviathan.

"That still doesn't answer my question," said Angel, frowning at him.

"It was an ingenious way to infect the target. Whenever Cody hooked himself up to the mainframe to crack the pass code to unlocked the final Time Stone from it, that was when he was susceptible to it. The code couldn't be cracked so long as I lived. I set it up to randomize too often for even one of the mecha bots to decrypt so long as I was alive," said Leviathan.

"However, once my physical body ceased to function, the randomization would stop. This would allow the first computer that was trying to decrypt it to succeed rather easily. When Cody did so, my virus was activated. It transferred itself to him while cleverly disguising its introduction to his systems as a massive electrical shock," said Leviathan.

"Surely he fought against you once he knew you were there," said Angel.

"Oh he did. But I waited till the timing was right when he would be at his weakest mentally to fight back," said Leviathan.

"You waited till he was alone back in my timeline's Knothole being depressed about the death of Lily, didn't you?" asked Angel, realizing right away what would've been Cody's weakest mental state.

"Indeed. He fought with me for several hours. But in the end, he lost. Now he's a prisoner in his own mind while I control him," said Leviathan.

"Let him go," said Angel with authority. "You're revenge against me doesn't include him. It's me you want. Me!"

"Oh trust me I don't want to stay in this accursed robian body any longer than I have to. But by being here, it made it easy to get revenge on you for ruining me in your world," said Leviathan with a bit of anger in his voice.

"You cost me everything I had worked so hard for in your world. And as much as I wanted to gut you the instant I took control of Cody's body, I couldn't. Not without giving away that I was still alive," said Leviathan.

"What did waiting give you? You have nothing here in this timeline except yourself," said Angel.

"But that's where you're wrong, my dear. I've nearly completed work on a microchip that will give me the ability to spread my virus over the entire planet. Once I do so, my empire will be instantly restored to me," said Leviathan.

"How?" asked Angel.

"Every computer system that is wirelessly connected will be under my control. Everything ranging from simple home computers to the highest caliber military machines will be at my disposal," said Leviathan.

"You won't get away with this," said Angel as she took as fighting stance. "I'll stop you here and now before you can carry out that plan." Leviathan just laughed in response.

"I enjoy your humor. I know you don't have the guts to fight me. If you kill me, you kill Cody. And all that will do is solidify your insanity to Sonic and the others. You'll be placed on trial and convicted for double homicide. And under mobian law, you'll be sentenced to death," said Leviathan.

"If that's the price I have to pay for keeping the world safe from you, so be it," said Angel.

"How noble. But you forgot one thing. You're still my puppet," said Leviathan with a smirk. Angel snapped upright, realizing he was right.

"Damn you Leviathan," spat Angel as she stood down. "At least tell me this. How did you appear to me in your original body last night and the night before? And how did you know about my fear of destiny?"

"Ah that. To answer your first question, it was a rather interesting neurotoxin I created that you've been ingesting since you got here. It induces hallucinations. At first they're mild, making it appear as though items are disappearing and reappearing at random," said Leviathan.

"And after that?" asked Angel.

"After several days worth of exposure, it begins to cause hallucinations of your worst fear. Granted I didn't count on that fear being myself, but it turned out to be perfect," said Leviathan.

"When you ran into the commons announcing that you had seen me chasing you, I knew then what you feared. When I followed you out here last night, all it took was talking with my voice for the neurotoxin to make it appear to you as though I was there in my original body," said Leviathan.

"And my fear of destiny?" asked Angel.

"As for your fear of destiny, robian ears can pick up sound so much better than normal mobians when called for. It was a simple matter of listening in on your conversation with Sonic to learn of your fear of destiny," said Leviathan He then walked over to her as she stared at him with a look of pure hatred on her face.

"Now if we're done talking, I have an alibi to keep," said Leviathan. He then quickly thrust his arm out, catching Angel by the throat and lifting her off the ground as he choked her as hard as he could. Angel struggled as best she could, trying to pry the cold steel fingers away from her throat. But she couldn't get the leverage to do so as she gasped for air.

"You know Angel. In this one moment, the revenge I have been so patiently waiting for has finally come to fruition. You'll die by my hands, seemingly as an insane murderer to the rest of the world. Only you and I will know the truth," said Leviathan as he smiled at her. Angel continued to struggle, but her strength was quickly leaving her as her need for air grew greater.

"Still, I am a creature that can show some mercy," said Leviathan as he pulled her down to eye level with him. Angel's arms fell to her sides as she tried to remain conscious. "I'll let you die in peace. Your promise to me? I release you from it. You die a free echidna."

Suddenly a loud sonic boom sounded as Leviathan was slammed hard in the side by a powerful blow, knocking Angel free of his grasp as Leviathan bounced across the ground several yards before coming to a stop. Angel started coughing loudly as she tried to get air back into her lungs as fast as she could.

"Just what the heck is going on out here!?" cried Sonic as he stood over Angel, his backpack on his back. Leviathan sneered as he rose to his feet, then pointed at Angel.

"Surely you believe she's gone mad now Sonic. Look over there," said Leviathan, now talking in Cody's voice again as he pointed towards Conner. Sonic looked over to where the robian skunk was hanging by Angel's sword at the tree.

"It's a lie Sonic! Cody's really Leviathan! He's framing me!" cried Angel as she stood back up, pointing at Leviathan.

"You see? She's nuttier than a fruitcake," said Leviathan. "She tried to fight me because she thinks I'm Leviathan. She claimed the same thing about why she killed Conner. I was just trying to disable her so I could bring her back to stand trial for murdering him."

"I've seen and heard enough," said Sonic, looking down at Angel. "So you think Cody's Leviathan, do you?"

"He is. You have to believe me," said Angel with distress. She knew Sonic wouldn't believe her. Leviathan's alibi was too strong not to.

"We need to take her out now Sonic, before she kill's anyone else," said Leviathan.

"You're right. I can't let this continue anymore," said Sonic. He then curled into a spindash as he gathered chaos energy from the air around him. Uncurling, he faced right at Angel as he readied his glowing body at her.

"Don't do this Sonic...Please believe me," said Angel as she closed her eyes tight.

"I'm sorry I have to do this. But now that I know the truth, I have to act," said Sonic. Angel merely nodded her head softly.

"I understand," she whispered. Sonic then shot from his spot at Mach 2. But instead of going after Angel, he shot straight at Leviathan. Curling into a spindash, Sonic collided full force into the robian, sending him flying back into a tree with three deep gashes in his chest plate. Running over to the stunned robian, Sonic quickly pulled the indigo Chaos Emerald from his backpack and pressed it as hard as he could into Cody's chest.

"What are you doing you fool!?" cried Leviathan as he started to jerk violently as the energy of the Chaos Emerald began to short out Cody's body.

"Angel, help me hold him in place!" cried Sonic. Angel wasted no time in rushing over to do so, helping Sonic hold down the robian as the Chaos Emerald continued to hurt Leviathan.

"But how did you know!?" cried Leviathan in his normal voice as he tried to fight back, but was unable because of the enormous pain that the emerald was causing him.

"Myr recorded your fight with Angel last night. He also saw you enter Conner's hut and leave with him dead in your arms. He showed both of these scenes to Nicole, who instantly informed me," said Sonic.

"Curse you...Sonic!" cried Leviathan as Cody's body started to shut down. "You haven't...won! Cody...is still...mine...and there's...nothing...you can...do...about it!" Cody's body then went limp as the emerald finally shorted him out. Quickly removing the emerald from his body so it wouldn't cause any more damage than what was needed, Sonic closed his eyes tight and slammed his fist into the ground.

"Curse that slimy robot lizard!" he shouted.

"I'm sorry Sonic," said Angel as she looked at the ground.

"Don't be. Leviathan's the one to blame for all of this," said Sonic softly as he regained his composure. "The important thing now is we know what's going on and that you're safe."

"So what happens now?" asked Angel.

"First we carry both Cody and Conner back to Knothole. Conner deserves a proper burial. Cody's body will remain shut down till we repair the damage that the Chaos Emerald caused. In the meantime, we'll try to figure out a way to break Leviathan's hold on Cody," said Sonic.

* * *

Later that day, Sonic and his friends all sat in the community hut. Once everyone had learned the truth, they had consoled Angel knowing that it must've been extremely hard to go thru what she had. Nicole had been quick to run a scan of the hut Angel had been living in since she had arrived.

She had quickly discovered a foreign airborne substance in the hut that was emanating from the air freshener that Cody had given to her when she had first arrived. After nearly an hour of scanning the substance, Nicole had a full analysis of the neurotoxin.

After going to the medical hut on Nicole's insistence, Dr. Quack had run a toxicology test on her. To everyone's relief, the effects weren't permanent as the neurotoxin's levels had dropped enough from her lack of contact with it since the other morning that it was no longer affecting her.

As for Lily, she had been crushed when she had discovered what had happened. Sally had stayed with her most of the time leading up till now consoling her. Eventually the magenta furred hedgehog had asked to be left alone. Sally had honored her wish and had left her to mourn in peace. Now Sally had rejoined her friends as they discussed the topic of how to help Cody.

"So anyone have any ideas on what to do?" asked Sonic.

"I'm afraid we don't," said Sally. "If Cody's being controlled by a virus, the only thing that would get rid of it would be to study it and discover an antivirus to it," said Sally.

"Which that isn't easy. We would have to scan Cody's systems to find it, figure out how its controlling him, and discover how to remove it without harming Cody in the process," said Tails.

"And I don't think scanning it is a viable option. At least not here," said Nicole.

"Why not?" asked Sonic.

"Because I'm the only one here with the ability to properly scan it. If the virus is as complex as Leviathan claimed, a simple scanning program won't do nearly a good enough job," said Nicole.

"But why is that a problem?" asked Sonic.

"Because I would have to link up to Cody's AI matrix to properly scan it. That would leave me vulnerable to being infected by the virus, even if I keep my system defenses on maximum," said Nicole.

"So then what do we do?" asked Sally.

"I'm not sure there's anything we can do. None of us know the extent of what Leviathan's virus is capable of doing," said Tails.

"So we're stuck?" asked Sonic.

"I'm afraid so," said Tails.

"Maybe not..." said Angel. Everyone looked over at the echidna with a questioning glance.

"What do you mean?" asked Sonic.

"I can think of a person who might be willing to help us and who might have access to the equipment that we would need," said Angel. She then looked away from the group. "But I don't think anyone would trust him other than me. Especially Sonic."

"Why not?" asked Sally. But unlike Sally, Sonic instantly realized where Angel's line of thinking was going.

"Oh no. Absolutely not!" said Sonic.

"What?" asked Tails.

"I am not letting Mecha anywhere near Cody," said Sonic.

"What other choice do we have?" asked Angel, looking at Sonic angrily. "Mecha's the only one I would be willing to trust who might be able to figure out a way to save him."

"For all we know Mecha would team up with Leviathan instead of destroying him," said Sonic.

"Actually...I agree with Angel on this one Sonic," said Sally. Sonic looked over at Sally with a look of complete surprise.

"Are you serious?" asked Sonic.

"I am. Mecha is the only person that knows how the mecha bots operate aside from Eggman and I definitely trust him more than Eggman," said Sally.

"I agree," said Nicole. Sonic turned to look at Nicole with a disbelieving look too.

"Not you too!" cried Sonic.

"The mecha bots are no slouches when it comes to technology," said Nicole. "He might have a way to safely scan and analyze the virus that we don't."

"I can't believe any of you are going along with this idea. Have you forgotten he's been trying to kill me since day one?" asked Sonic.

"His fight is against you, not any of us," said Sally.

"And I personally consider him a friend despite that fact," said Angel. Sonic sighed and threw up his hands.

"Whatever. Just for the record, I'm against this idea one hundred percent," said Sonic.

"Noted," said Sally. She then looked over at Angel. "How soon can you get into contact with him?"

"I can do it whenever," said Angel.

"Good. We'll make preparations so we'll be ready if he does decide to help us," said Sally.

* * *

Later that same hour, Angel sat in the living room of Sally's hut. Both her and the princess decided it was best if they called the mecha bot together. Angel was a little nervous as she entered the frequency into her holo communicator that Mecha had given her when they had parted ways so many months ago. Almost instantly, the holo projection of the mecha bot appeared above the holo disc.

"Well this is a surprise. I haven't heard from you since we parted ways," said Metal Sonic as his holo figure crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yeah...I figured it was best to leave you to your work. I hope me not staying in touch hasn't soured our relationship," said Angel with a bit of worry in her voice. The mecha bot merely chuckled.

"Not in the least. It is nice to hear from you regardless," said Metal Sonic. His image then looked over at Sally. "And the princess is here too. Something tells me this isn't a social call."

"It isn't," said Sally.

"We've got a...unique problem that we think only you can help us with," said Angel

"I'm rather busy with my studies at the moment. However since you're the one that is asking me for help, I'll at least listen to what the problem is," said Metal Sonic. Angel and Sally then detailed to them everything that they knew about Cody's condition. Metal Sonic took everything in, his interest growing the more he heard.

"Well now that is a unique problem as you stated," said Metal Sonic.

"So can you help us?" asked Angel.

"I'll have you know that the hedgehog escaped death by my hand once because of that robian. I hate him for that," said Metal Sonic.

"So then you won't," asked Sally, looking crestfallen.

"I never said that. My friendship with Angel means a lot to me. She's the first person to ever talk civilized to me or to show me any kind of compassion. What kind of friend would I be in return if I were to refuse helping her when she needs my help?" said Metal Sonic.

"So then you will help us?" asked Angel.

"I promise I'll do whatever I can to free your friend from Leviathan's control," said Metal Sonic.

"Thank you Mecha," said Angel. "I'm transmit the coordinates to Knothole to you right now."

"I'll be there at 0700 hours to pick up your friend. Till tomorrow," said Metal Sonic, cutting the transmission.

* * *

The next morning roughly a minute before Metal Sonic's announced arrival time, Sonic, Sally, and Angel stood in the middle of the commons with a still deactivated Cody resting in Angel's arms. While Angel and Sally had calm faces, Sonic's was twisted into one of annoyance with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I still don't know why we have to trust him to do this," said Sonic flatly.

"Let it go already Sonic," said Sally as she got an annoyed look on her own face. "Just because he's still out to get you doesn't mean he won't help us."

"So says you," said Sonic.

"I trust him, let that be enough," said Angel as she looked over at Sonic.

"That's the only reason I'm even allowing this," said Sonic. No less than a minute later, the distinct humming of Metal Sonic's engine filled the air. A few seconds later, the mecha bot flew into the village commons, landing in front of the trio of mobians.

"Thank you for coming," said Sally, giving him a nod of her head.

"It is not a problem," said Metal Sonic, returning the nod. He then looked over at Sonic, a frown etching onto his metallic face. "Hedgehog."

"Let's get one thing straight right now, Mecha," said Sonic as he glared at the mecha bot. "I don't like this situation at all. If I had any choice in the matter, you wouldn't lay a hand on Cody."

"Sonic!" said Sally angrily at the blue hedgehog.

"I see your attitude hasn't changed at all," said Metal Sonic. "Be thankful I'm even bothering to help. From what I've gathered, I might be the only hope for your friend."

"Which is the only reason I'm allowing this to happen," said Sonic. He then walked up next to Metal Sonic, placing a hand on his shoulder. Metal Sonic stared at it, not sure whether to be angry or offended that Sonic had the gall to do such an action. "I'm trusting you to help Cody. If you can free him without harming him...I'll owe you a big favor."

"You owing me a favor," said Metal Sonic as a smirk appeared on his muzzle. "That would be amusing to say the least."

"We all would owe you a big favor," said Angel.

"You would owe me nothing Angel. I don't collect debts from someone I call a friend," said Metal Sonic..

"Do you have any idea how long this will take?" asked Sally. Metal Sonic just shook his head.

"I won't have an estimate till I've seen the extent of what this virus is capable of," said Metal Sonic.

"Take as much time as you need Mecha," said another female voice from behind the group. Everyone turned and looked to see Lily walking towards them, a depressed Drake on her shoulder.

"Lily..." said Angel as she watched the hedgehog walk up to Metal Sonic.

"I know my husband was a thorn in your side ever since we escaped from Eggman's clutches. And for you to put aside that hatred to help him in his darkest hour...It's one of the noblest things I've ever seen," said Lily. She then embraced Metal Sonic in a hug, much to mecha bot's surprise. She then broke it, looking deep into Metal Sonic's glowing red eyes.

"Please bring my husband back to me. He is everything to me," said Lily. Metal Sonic hesitated, then caught a glimpse of Angel giving him a nod. Returning his gaze to Lily, he gave his own nod to her.

"I will do everything in my power Mrs. Griffor. You have my word," said Metal Sonic. He then walked over and took Cody from Angel's arms.

"Please make him better, Mr. Mecha," said Drake from his place on Lily's shoulder. Metal Sonic looked back at him, giving him a nod. Powering up his engine, he then lifted off the ground.

"Till next we meet," said Metal Sonic. He then took off towards the west, the sound of his engine fading fast. Once it's noise was gone, Sonic just shook his head.

"I still think this was a bad idea," he whispered under his breath.

THE END


End file.
